Psychological stress responses in adult patients with atopic dermatitis

To investigate the relationship between Atopic dermatitis (AD) related stressors, cognitive appraisals, coping strategies and psychological stress responses in adult patients with AD, we administered the AD Stressor Scale, Cognitive Appraisal Scale, Tri-axial Coping Scale 24, Stress Response Scale-18, and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale to 104 patients.The results were as follows. (1) AD related stressors were positively correlated with psychological stress responses, (2) the “impact of stressors” appraisal was positively correlated with psychological stress responses, (3) “avoidance-like” coping was positively, and “positive thinking-distraction” coping was negatively correlated with psychological stress responses, (4) the “impact of stressors” appraisal was positively correlated with “problem solving-support seeking” coping and negatively correlated with “positive thinking-distraction” coping, and “controllability” appraisal was positively correlated with “problem solving-support seeking” coping.The results of this study suggest that intervention to lower the “impact of stressors” appraisal and “avoidance-like” coping, and to raise “positive thinking-distraction” coping can improve psychological stress responses in adult patients with AD.