Effectiveness of intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy on psychological distress of patients with atopic dermatitis

Atopic dermatitis as a common and chronic inflammatory skin disease can lead to mental distress in the patient. The aim of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy on the psychological distress of patients with atopic dermatitis. The present study is a semi-experimental design of single subject type. The statistical population of this study included patients with atopic dermatitis who referred to Razi Hospital in Tehran in 2019, and among them, 5 people were selected through available sampling. These people underwent 10 individual sessions of intensive short-term psychodynamic therapy. The subjects completed the depression, anxiety and stress scale at the baseline stage, during the intervention and follow-up. In order to analyze the data, visual analysis and calculation of recovery percentage were used. According to the scores of the patients in depression, anxiety and stress and the graphs of the changes, all patients showed an acceptable reduction in depression, anxiety and stress. The overall improvement rate of patients in depression, anxiety and stress at the end of the intervention was 61%, 57%, 62.4%, respectively, which indicates the effectiveness of intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy in reducing these variables. Intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy can help reduce the psychological distress of patients with atopic dermatitis as an effective intervention.Keywords: Atopic dermatitis, Intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy, Psychological distress