Personality Traits and Common Psychiatric Conditions in Adult Patients with Acne Vulgaris

• Published in: Annals of dermatology 2015-02, Vol.27 (1), p.48
• Main Authors: Ali Irfan Gul, Emine Colgecen
• Format: Article
• Language: Korean
• Subjects: Acne; Anxiety; Depression; Neuroticism
• ISSN: 1013-9087; 2005-3894

Background: We believe that instances of neuroticism andcommon psychiatric disorders are higher in adults with acnevulgaris than the normal population. Objective: Instances ofacne in adults have been increasing in frequency in recentyears. The aim of this study was to investigate personalitytraits and common psychiatric conditions in patients withadult acne vulgaris. Methods: Patients who visited thedermatology outpatient clinic at Bozok University MedicalSchool with a complaint of acne and who volunteered for thisstudy were included. The Symptom Checklist 90-Revised(SCL 90-R) Global Symptom Index (GSI), somatization,depression, and anxiety subscales and the Eysenck PersonalityQuestionnaire-Revised Short Form (EPQ-RSF) were administeredto 40 patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteriabefore treatment. The results were compared with those of acontrol group. Results: Of the 40 patients included in thisstudy, 34 were female and 6 were male. The GSI and thesomatization, depression, and anxiety subscales of the SCL90-R were evaluated. Patients with adult acne had statisticallysignificant higher scores than the control group on allof these subscales. In addition, patients with adult acne hadstatistically significantly higher scores on the neuroticismsubscale of the EPQ-RSF. Conclusion: Our results show thatcommon psychiatric conditions are frequent in adult patientswith acne. More importantly, neurotic personality characteristicsare observed more frequently in these patients. These findings suggest that acne in adults is a disorder thathas both medical and psychosomatic characteristics andrequires a multi-disciplinary approach. (Ann Dermatol 27(1) 48∼52, 2015)