Personality Disorders and Its Association with Anxiety and Depression Among Patients of Severe Acne: A Cross-sectional Study from Eastern India

Background: In many patients, emotional stress may exacerbate acne. Psychological problems such as social phobias, low self-esteem, or depression may also occur as a result of acne. The presence of acne may have some negative effect on the quality of life, self-esteem, and mood of the affected patients. While some studies have been undertaken about anxiety, depression, and personality patterns in patients with acne, only a few studies have been done to identify specific personality disorders in patients with acne. Furthermore, there is a dearth of data regarding the effect of personality disorder on the psychological states of the patients which prompted us to undertake the present study.

Methodology: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study, undertaken in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in Eastern India. Consecutive patients suffering from severe (Grade 3 and 4) acne, attending the Dermatology Outpatient Department, aged above 18 years were included to the study.

Results: A total of 65 patients were evaluated with a mean age of 26 years. Personality disorder was present in 29.2% of patients. The diagnosed personality disorders were obsessive compulsive personality disorder ( = 9, 13.8%), anxious (avoidant) personality disorder ( = 6, 9.2%), and borderline personality disorder ( = 2, 3%), mixed personality disorder ( = 2, 3%). All patients with personality disorder had some psychiatric comorbidity. Patients having personality disorder had higher number of anxiety and depressive disorders which were also statistically significant.

Conclusion: The present study highlights that personality disorders and other psychiatric comorbidities are common in the setting of severe acne.