Maladaptive Daydreaming in Psoriasis Patients

Abstract

Aim: Many psychiatric disorders are associated with psoriasis. A 16-item self-report maladaptive daydreaming (MD) scale (MDS-16) is described as a screening tool for MD. We aimed to explore whether MDS-16 scores differed in psoriasis patients compared to healthy individuals, hypothesizing higher scores and higher rates of probable maladaptive daydreamers (MDers) among psoriazis patients. Materials and Methods: We included 184 psoriazis patients and 93 age- and sex-matched people without any cutaneous disorders in this case-control, cross-sectional, and questionnaire-based study. Dermatology Quality of Life Instrument in Turkish (TQoL) and MDS-16 were applied. We considered the participants with a total MDS-16 score ≥50 as probable MDers. Results: Total MDS-16 score was higher in the psoriasis group (p=0.038). However, the difference between the frequencies of probable MDers was not significant (p=0.234). According to the multivariable analysis, psoriasis was not found as an independent risk factor for being probable MDer. In the psoriasis group, total MDS-16 scores were positively correlated with TQoL scores (rs=0.259, p=0.001), which were significantly higher in probable MDers (p=0.032). Conclusion: The association between psoriasis and MD may be related to the level of the impact of psoriasis on the quality of life.

Keywords

• maladaptive daydreaming
• psoriasis
• quality of life