Psychodrama with psoriasis patients: stress and coping

Objective: The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of a psychodramatic group work on psychological symptoms and coping styles with stressful life event in a group of psoriasis patients. Ten patients (a male and nine females), who have been followed by Dermatology out patient services of Medical Faculty, Pamukkale University, participated our group work. Seven patients completed eighteen psychodrama orientated group work sessions. Each session lasted three hours and took place only once a week. Methods: Before and immediately after the group work, the participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory and the State- Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Ways of Coping Questionnaire. Psoriasis severity was assessed by using PASI (Psoriasis Area Severity Index). Results: Before group work, the patients had suffered from significant depressive symptoms and the coping strategies most frequently used by patients were religious, emotion focused coping and planning. Three patients have reported that an overt stressful life event caused their psoriasis; the remaining had believed their disease as a result of the emotional aggregation of their life-time stressful experiences. The reported psychosocial stressors by the patients were mostly emotional problems with family member or close relationships. Compared to baseline, at the end of group, while there was a significant reduction of religious coping style and there was an increase of positive re-interpretation (p<.05). After the group work, depressive symptoms have shown a tendency of decrease (p>.05). The severity of psoriasis did not significantly change after group work although it was observed partial improvements in some patients. Discussion: Our results suggest that psychodrama orientated group work may effect positively on coping styles with stress in psoriasis patients. (Anatolian Journal of Psychiatry 2010; 11:220-227)