Examination of depression and social anxiety levels of 18-60 years old people with respect to their diagnosis of psoriasis

The main purpose of this study is to make a comparison of depression and social anxiety levels between 100 individuals who are diagnosed with psoriasis and another 100 individuals who are not diagnosed with psoriasis. Hence, the sample space of the study consisted of 200 individuals whose ages vary between 18 and 60. In this study, Sociodemographic Form, Hospital Anxiety, Depression Scale ad Liebowithz Social Anxiety scales were applied. IBM SPSS V21 application software was used for analyzing the measurement data acquired throughout the study. Psoriasis affects the quality of life significantly by creating obvious damages both in physical and psychological manner. It also causes depression and anxiety. As the results of many studies clearly show that, depression scores of individuals with psoriasis are significantly higher than the individuals without psoriasis. On the other hand, it is discovered that there is no obvious difference between two groups in terms of anxiety and avoidance. It is also shown that there is no differentiation between two individuals of two groups' depression sub-scale scores according to their sociodemographic properties.