DETERMINATION OF ANXIETY LEVELS IN ADOLESCENTS WITH PSORIASIS

Abstract

To determine the levels of personal and situational (reactive) anxiety in adolescents with psoriasis, depending on the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of dermatosis as well as the indices of pathology severity, we examined 30 patients aged 13−17 years. The study used Spielberger's method in Yu. Khanin modification depending on sex, age biological periodization, duration of course and exacerbation of psoriasis, the cause of dermatosis and indices of pathology severity in adolescents. The research results revealed a high level of personal anxiety, increasing with age, in most individuals examined. It has been suggested that high levels of personal anxiety in patients with psoriasis as a genetic trait that is prone to excessive anxiety provoke the appearance of psoriasis after a stressful situation. A high level of situational anxiety was detected in only 30.0 % of cases. Girls have a significantly higher level of personal anxiety and a 1.5−fold predominance of situational anxiety over boys. There is also an increase in the level of personal anxiety with a rise in intensity of cutaneous manifestations of psoriasis: the more hyperemia, peeling and infiltration of psoriatic lesions in girls, the stronger the stress and anxiety. Because adolescence, which is intermediate between childhood and adulthood and is characterized by new psychological phenomena (personal self−affirmation, the young person's need to communicate, increase contacts, formation of a new worldview, review and change previously established beliefs, values and norms of life), therefore it is likely that the data obtained during the study on anxiety levels in adolescents with psoriasis are related to the disease specifics and course. Key words: adolescents, psoriasis, situational anxiety, personal anxiety, anxiety levels.