Psychological resilience in patients with acne vulgaris

Objective: The purpose of this study is to compare psychological resilience between acne patients and healthy subjects and to see the association between anxiety, depression and resilience.

Methods: The study was carried out with two groups. A sample of 241 participants, the first group consisting of 146 subjects with acne vulgaris and a control group of 95 healthy individuals, was recruited. Sociodemographic form, the Resilience Scale for Adults, Beck Anxiety Inventory and Beck Depression Inventory were administered to each volunteer.

Results: When we compared acne individuals and the healthy control group, we observed a significant statistical difference between the two groups on the ‘perception of self’ and ‘perception of future’ subscale scores of the Resilience Scale for Adults. (p0.05). No difference in depression scores and anxiety scores was observed between the acne and control groups (p>0.05). Statistically significant negative correlations between overall subscores on the Resilience Scale for Adults and scores on Beck Anxiety Inventory and Beck Depression Inventory were observed.

Conclusion: Our results highlight the relationship between the resilience scores and the scores of depression and anxiety in the acne group. The acne group was significantly worse on ‘perception of self’ and ‘perception of future’ subscale scores. This study provides further evidence that it may be efficient for clinicians to give a further boost to resilience factors in relation to depressive and anxiety symptoms among acne patients. The results support the importance of patients’ resilience in a successful management of mental burdens of acne.