Journal of

Background and Aim: Vitiligo is a prevalent depigmentaling skin disorder, which has a great impact on the quality of life of patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of quality of life of these patients with self-compassion and experiential avoidance.

Methods: In this analytical cross-sectional study, Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), Second Edition of Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-II), and Vitiligo Quality of Life Index (VitiQoL) were completed by 105 patients with vitiligo (49.5% male) who were selected through available sampling method. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, t-test, ANOVA and covariance analysis.


Results: The average of quality of life score of the participants in the study was 32.14. There was a significant relationship (P<0.01) of the quality of life scores with the scores of experiential avoidance (R=0.28), self-judgment (R=0.36), isolation (R=0.52) and extreme identification (R=0.42). After removing the confounding effect of the variables on each other, the relationship of quality of life score with the location of the lesion (P=0.04) and isolation score (P=0.001) was significant.


Conclusion: Self-compassion and experiential avoidance play an important role in the quality of life of patients with vitiligo, and targeting these two components through psychological treatments can be effective in improving the quality of life of these patients.