Effects of combined dermatological and behavioural medicine therapy in hospitalized patients with psoriasis and atopic dermatitis

The present study examined the effectiveness of combined dermatological and behavioural medicine therapy on the skin status and disease-specific stres s of eighty-six patients with psoriasis and fifty-eight patients with atopi c dermatitis who were hospitalized in the PsoriSol Clinic, Hersbruck, Germa ny. In addition to receiving instruction about their stain disease, the pat ients were offered, practice in relaxation techniques, social contacts and scratching control as well as individual psychological counselling,The clin ical change was assessed by PASI and SCORAD, respectively. The Marburg ques tionnaire for coping with skin diseases (MHF) and a questionnaire for healt h-related control attributes (GKU-S) served as psychometric measures. Patie nts showed significant improvement in skin status and psychosocial paramete rs in pre-post comparison. Social fears, avoidance and helplessness were re duced by significant improvement of the emotional status in both groups. Pa tients with psoriasis also showed an increase in internal control attribute s. Dermatological treatment combined with behavioural medicine therapy can be considered an effective method in patients with atopic dermatitis and ps oriasis.