Abstract

• Objectives
  The purpose of this study is to investigate the psychological problems in patients with pruritus.
• Methods
  The author compared the anxiety, depression and hostility levels between 47 patients suffering from pruritus and 52 normal controls by means of STAI(State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), BDI(Beck Depression Inventory) and Hostility scales. The subject was the patients with pruritus who visited the dermatology outpatient clinic of Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital.
• Results
  1) The anxiety scale was significantly higher in the female patients with pruritus than in the normal female controls(p<0.01), but there was no significant difference between the male patients and the male controls.
  2) There was significant difference in depression scale between the female patients showed a tendency toward higher depression.
  3) There was no significant difference in hostility scale between the pruritus patient group and the normal control group.
• Conclusion
  High levels of anxiety and depression in pruritus patients, especially female. So the author think it will be necessary to treat psychiatrically those patients with pruritus who seem to be suffering from sort of psychiatric symptoms which can be checked by self-report questionaires.
• Keywords: Pruritus; Anxiety; Depression; Hostility