The moderating role of alexithymia on the relationship between psychological distress and disease severity and skin itching in patients with psoriasis

Psoriasis is one of the most common autoimmune, psychosomatic diseases of the skin, which is accompanied by vulnerability to stress, emotional disorders, and difficulty in expressing negative feelings. The role of emotional experiences and especially alexithymia in the clinical course of many skin diseases has been confirmed. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of alexithymia and psychological distress in predicting the degree of itching and the severity of the disease in people with psoriasis. The statistical population of the study was psoriasis sufferers in 1401 from Tehran. For this purpose, with the available sampling method, 187people with psoriasis who were members of the Iranian Psoriasis Association participated in the research online. Toronto alexithymia Questionnaire (TAS-20), Kessler's Psychological Distress Scale, Psoriasis Level and Severity Index (PASI) and self-report itch intensity measurement were completed. The results of the correlation analysis showed that there is a positive and significant correlation between alexithymia, psychological distress, severity of itching and severity of the disease. Stepwise regression was used to investigate the moderating role of alexithymia between psychological distress and itching severity. The findings show that the beta related to the interaction of alexithymia and psychological distress is significant in predicting 34%of itching in psoriasis. But these results were not significant for predicting the severity of the disease by emotional ataxia and psychological distress.