The Relationship between Difficulties in Emotion Regulation and Experimental Avoidance with Depression in Patients with Vitiligo

Vitiligo is a chronic skin condition that can cause psychological disorders, including depression. Therefore, identifying the psychological components associated with depression in these patients is necessary in order to select appropriate therapeutic approaches. The present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between the difficulties in emotion regulation and experimental avoidance with depression in patients with vitiligo.

In this cross-sectional study, 105 patients with vitiligo, whose names were recorded before the research in the database of the Dermatology Research Center of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, were selected by available sampling method. The relationship between difficulties in emotion regulation and experimental avoidance with depression in patients with vitiligo was evaluated using second version of Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), difficulties in emotion regulation scale (DERS), and Second Edition of Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-II). All questionnaires were completed a time by the participants.

The average of depression score of the participants in the study was 18.69 ± 13.09. The results Also showed that there is a significant relationship (P < 0.01) between the depression scores with the scores of experimental avoidance, non-acceptance of emotional responses, Difficulties in engaging in goal-directed behavior, Impulse control difficulties, Limited access to effective emotion regulation strategies, Lack of emotion clarity. Also, after removing the confounding effect of independent variables on each other, the relationship between depression score and Limited access to effective emotion regulation strategies score was significant (P < 0.001).

Difficulties in emotion regulation as a trans-diagnostic factor associated with emotional disorders, play an important role in the depression of patients with vitiligo. According to the results of this study, it seems that those psychological interventions that improve the emotion regulation skills of individuals can be effective in reducing the depression of these patients.