Increasing Effect of Combining Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Program with Biofeedback on Disease Perception, Mental Health and Reducing the Severity of Clinical Symptoms in Patients with Psoriasis.

The role of psychological distress has been approved in the clinical course of skin diseases. which. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction program and its combination with Biofeedback on disease perception, mental health, and severity of clinical symptoms in patients with psoriasis.

The present research is a quasi-experimental study with an inter-subject design. The statistical population included all patients with psoriasis referred to the Dermatology Research Center of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. From this population, according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 45 patients were selected by purposive sampling method and replaced randomly in three groups of 15 people (two experimental groups and one control group). The first experimental group received 8 sessions of Biofeedback and 8 sessions of mindfulness-based stress reduction. The second experimental group received only mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention and the control group did not receive any intervention. The research instruments included Broadbent et al.'s (2006) Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire, Goldberg (1988) General Health Questionnaire, and Corti (2009) Psoriasis Area Severity Index.

According to the results of SPANOVA analysis, both interventions were found to be effective. However, combining mindfulness-based stress reduction programs with Biofeedback was more effective and more sustainable.

These two therapies, especially in combination, can be used as an effective method in psoriasis patients.