A woman with dermatitis and dissociative periods.
A nineteen year old female with pustular eczema and dissociative spells is presented. The patient has a three year history of severe dermatitis beginning shortly after her marriage. Central dynamic issues appear to be difficulty separating from her mother and an ambivalent identification with a hostile father. The patient also describes fugue-like episodes which occur with emerging aggressive feelings. Psychological testing supported these hypotheses. The relevant literature describing the correlation between aggression and skin disease is reviewed. A final uniform formulation was tentatively proposed that this patient, in addition to a strong genetic component for atopic dermatitis, had her illness abetted by inability to cope with aggressive affects.
D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression; D000786:Anger; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000235:genetics; D004213:Dissociative Disorders; D004485:Eczema / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders