Relationship between anger and pruritus perception in patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria and psoriasis

Background  There is evidence that chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) and psoriasis are associated with personality based difficulties in emotional regulation particularly with regard to the feeling of anger. This deficit in emotional awareness could lead to the phenomenon that emotions are rather experienced in bodily symptoms such as pruritus.
Aim  We investigated whether there is a relationship between pruritus as major symptoms in CIU and psoriasis and the experience of negative emotions.
Setting  Forty-one CIU patients and 44 psoriasis patients treated at Bonn University Hospital and 49 healthy controls were included.
Method  Patients and controls were compared on questionnaires measuring alexithymia (TAS-20), emotional distress (SCL-90-R) and anger (STAXI). In skin-disordered patients, separate stepwise regressions with pruritus severity as dependent variable and questionnaires, skin status, duration, sex and age as independent variables were calculated.
Results  CIU and psoriasis patients showed higher alexithymia, emotional distress, depression, anxiety and state anger compared with controls. State anger was the only significant predictor of pruritus severity in CIU explaining 19% of variance. Depression was the only significant predictor of pruritus severity in psoriasis explaining 12% of variance.
Conclusions  Our findings suggest a relationship between pruritus severity and anger in CIU. Furthermore, our results indicate a relationship between pruritus severity and depression in psoriasis.