Psychiatric Symptoms Associated with Scleroderma

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of psychiatric symptoms and hostility factors in patients with scleroderma, although a matter of clinical interest, it is rather poorly studied. METHODS: Thirty female patients with scleroderma were investigated. Thirty-three healthy women were used as a comparison group. The applied psychometric instruments were the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire (HDHQ), the Delusions Symptoms States Inventory/states of Anxiety and Depression (DSSI/sAD) and the Symptom Check List-90R (SCL-90R). RESULTS: The scleroderma patients reported significantly increased depression and anxiety, somatization, interpersonal sensitivity and obsessive-compulsiveness. Paranoid ideation and psychotic symptoms scores were also increased. On hostility, they presented significantly higher scores predominantly on guilt. CONCLUSIONS: Psychiatric symptomatology in the form of anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsiveness, somatization and feelings of guilt were reported by the majority of the patients with scleroderma.