title: How does stigma affect people with psoriasis?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Psoriasis is associated with a major additional psychological burden.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether the extent of skin involvement, stigmatization, and perceived social support are related to depressive symptoms in psoriasis patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and forty-eight psoriasis patients completed in the BSA, the Beck Depression Inventory, Stigmatization Scale, and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Almost 13% of participants obtained a BDI total score indicating moderate depressive symptoms. The results of regression analysis revealed that greater depression severity in psoriasis patients is associated with higher levels of psoriasis-related stigma, lower perceived social support, female gender and a shorter duration of the disease, explaining 43% of the variance of depression. The stigmatization was the most powerful predictor of depressive symptoms for psoriasis patients and accounted for 33% of the variance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The extent of psoriasis does not directly lead to mood disturbance in these patients. Rather, social stigma accounted for this relationship. Strategies for reducing the stigma attached to patients with psoriasis are required.
authors.affiliation: SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Patryk
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Łakuta
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cardiology, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Kamil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Marcinkiewicz
authors.affiliation: Departament of Dermatology, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland.
authors.forename: Beata
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bergler-Czop
authors.affiliation: Departament of Dermatology, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland.
authors.forename: Ligia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Brzezińska-Wcisło
keywords: depression; psoriasis; social support; stigma