Alexithymia and Psychosomatic Phenomena in Psoriasis: Psychological Phenomena Influencing Patients’ Quality of Life

INTRODUCTION: Psoriasis represents a heterogeneous life-long skin disease presenting global estimated prevalence ranges from 0.91 to 8.5% in adults. Often recognized as a psychosomatic disease, the related psychological components play a fundamental role. Past and recent studies valued the impact of these factors allowing clinicians to reach multidisciplinary perspectives both referred to diagnosis and treatments. Studies highlighting the patients’ quality of life (QoL) and principal psychological influences are needed. METHODS: The sample consisted of 118 patients diagnosed with psoriasis aged between 18 and 78 years old (M: 29.88; SD: 13.67) with a female prevalence (56.8%). All involved patients fully completed the protocol consisting of a sociodemographic section, Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20, Diagnostic Criteria for Psychosomatic Research and SF-36. RESULTS: The study highlighted high rates of alexithymia and low quality of life. Significant correlations and dependencies underlined the role of sociodemographic variables and alexithymia on subjects’ psychosomatic manifestations and QoL. CONCLUSION: The emerged results should serve as evidence-based foundations in order to structure specific interventions aimed at reducing psychopathological risks and improve QoL. The study hypotheses confirmed the presence and the role of clinical psychological phenomena influencing subjects QoL and general functioning. Despite the results matched with previous published relevant studies, further research is necessary in order to establish an international evidence-based network.