934
CLINICAL REPORT
Alexithymia, Illness Perception and Self-management Competency
in Psoriasis
Marie H. LARSEN 1,2 , Anne Lene KROGSTAD 2–4 and Astrid K. WAHL 1
1
Department of Health Sciences, Institute of Health and Society, Medical Faculty, University of Oslo, 2 Section for Climate Therapy, 3 Department
of Dermatology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway, and 4 Department of Dermatology, Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg,
Gothenburg, Sweden
Alexithymia, defined as difficulty in describing or re-
cognizing emotions, has been shown to be connected
with psoriasis, but its relationship with self-manage-
ment of psoriasis has not been explored. The aim of
this study was to assess the frequency of alexithymia
and its relationship with self-management and illness
perception in the context of psoriasis. A total of 163
patients participating in 3 weeks of climate heliothera-
py (CHT) at Gran Canaria were assessed for alexithy-
mia using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) at
baseline. Self-reported measures for self-management
(Health Education Impact Questionnaire; heiQ), and
disease severity and illness perception (Brief Illness
Perception Questionnaire; BIPQ) were assessed twice.
Of all patients, 14.1% were characterized as alexi
thymic and 22.1% scored in the intermediate range.
Alexithymic patients scored significantly worse in all
heiQ domains, and reported worse illness perception.
However, there were no between-group differences in
heiQ or BIPQ change from baseline to after CHT. In
conclusion, this study shows that alexithymia indica-
tes inferior self-management and reaffirms the asso-
ciations with illness perception. Further research is
required into these relationships.
Key words: psoriasis; alexithymia; self-management; illness
perception.
Accepted May 22, 2017; Epub ahead of print May 24, 2017
Acta Derm Venereol 2017; 97: 934–940.
Corr: Marie Hamilton Larsen, Department of Health Sciences, Institute of
Health and Society, University of Oslo, PO Box 1089 Blindern, NO-0317
Oslo, Norway. E-mail: [email protected]
P
soriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin condition
that has been recognized recently as an autoimmune-
mediated disease (1). Patients with psoriasis have an
increased risk of concurrent disorders, including hy-
pertension, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease
(2–4). The unpredictable nature