• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.226-232
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• 1999

Background : Various type of psychological and stressful events in life have been reported to have much effect in the onset, progress and exacerbation of psychosomatic disorders such as hypertension, bronchial asthma, peptic ulcer, tension headache, alopecia areata, and atopic dermatitis. However, the nature of the association between stress and psychosomatic disorders remains unclear. Objective : The purpose of this study is to determine the relation of stress and the progress of dermatologic disorder. Method : We examined 30 patients with atopic dermatitis and 30 control subjects with tinea pedis and onychomycosis who visited to Dept. of Dermatology, Chung-Ang University Hospital. To evaluate the stress, we used 'Scale of Life Events' and 'Multidemensional Coping Scale'. Result : 1) The score of life events stress in atopic dermatitis group was significantly higher than that of control group. 2) In the result of coping strategies, the atopic dermatitis group was significantly higher than control group at the active forgetting, positive comparison, and emotional pacification, while in control group religious seeking and accomodation tended to be higher with no statistical significance. Conclusion : These findings suggest that psychosocial stress may play a role in life pattern of atopic dermatitis. But further studies are needed to clarity the exact relationship between stress and psychosomatic disorder.