Journal of

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Background and Aim: The present world is a world of short-sectional relationships, most people identify themselves by acknowledging their appearance instead of considering their inherited or acquired different characteristics. In this study, we decided to compare the body image between patients with skin diseases and healthy participants.

Methods: In this case-control study, 300 (150 cases and 150 controls) individuals aged from 18 to 64 years were selected in the Isfahan city. Satisfaction with body image and feelings of respondents regarding their apparent looks in different situations and different conditions were investigated using an a researcher-constructed questionnaire. To analyze the collected data, we used the analysis of covariance and compared the means.

Results: Single, younger, and less educated women had body image scores higher and more positive look to their bodies. Healthy people had higher score of body image than the patients with skin diseases. There was no significant relationship between gender and body image scores.

Conclusion: Skin diseases had an important role in body image. So we suggest that the effect of other diseases, that somehow affect the appearance of people on body image, be examined deeply for each disease.

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Background and Aim: Skin diseases are associated with a set of psychological disorders that not only affects the patient, but also has a huge burden on the patient’s family and the wider society. The main purpose of the present study was to compare the severity of psychologic symptoms in patients with skin diseases and healthy participants.

Methods: In this study, 305 participants aged from 16-85 years (153 cases and 152 controls) were enrolled. Data including demographic variables, in addition to psychiatric variables such as Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS), Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Inventory (MOCI), Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) were collected by asking participants to complete questionnaires. The data were analyzed with t test and variance analysis.

Results: There was no significant difference between case and control groups regarding the prevalence of depression, anxiety, compulsive washing and neuroticism. However, there was a significant difference in checking, extroversion and lie. No significant relation was found between age, sex, education, marital status, occupation and history of mental illness with psychological symptoms of patients. A significant relation was observed between the history of suicide and the history of mental illness in the family of patients with extraversion.

Conclusion: Correlation and interaction between skin disease and symptoms of mental disorders is complicated and needs further investigations.