Abstract :
Background: The skin is an organ of communication and plays an important role in socialization. Skin is an organ that
reacts directly upon emotional stimuli. The relationship between the ‘skin’ and the ‘mind’ is complex and of clinical
importance. Aims: Assessing cutaneous disorders in patients with primary psychiatric conditions. Methods: One hundred
patients with a primary psychiatric condition who had cutaneous disease were entered into the study group. The patients
were classified appropriately based on the classification of psychocutaneous disorders. The control group included 100
patients presenting with a skin disorder and without any known psychiatric complaint. Results: In our study group there
were 49 males and 51 females, Most of the cases and control group were in 2nd to 5th decade. The primary psychiatric
condition in our study were Major depressive Disorder (44%), schizophrenia (31%), Anxiety disorder (18%), Bipolar
Disorder (7%). In our study group we found 34% of the patient had Dermatophyte infection followed by the Bacterial
infection (27%). Acne vulgaris (12%), parasitic infection like scabies seen in 11% of the study group, eczemas seen in 5%
of the patients followed by pigmentary disorder (5%), papulosquamous like psoriasis seen in 4% and Hansen’s in 2% of the
patients. Conclusion: A statistically significant higher incidence of dermatophyte infections, Acne Vulgaris and Parasitic
infections was seen in the study group.
Keyword :
Anxiety, Depression, Psychocutaneous disorders.