Psychodermatology: Past, Present and Future

Abstract

A relationship between psychological factors and skin diseases has long been hypothesized. Psychodermatology addresses the interaction between the mind and the skin. Today, we know that it is essential to consider both biopsychosocial approaches and path physiological approaches to treatment, involving general practitioners, psychiatrists, dermatologists and psychologists. However, Psychodermatology is a relatively new discipline, and the body of literature addressing it is still scarce. To obtain data, we consulted the archives of dermatological societies in Europe and America from the year of their founding until 2010. We also consulted other psychiatric and psychological societies and received responses from most of them. Among the different stages in the historical evolution of Psychodermatology (the early, anecdotal phase; the methodological phase and the contemporary phase), it was only in the most recent phase that the European Society of Dermatology and Psychiatry was established. Other working groups and societies have emerged in several European countries: The German Working Group on Psychodermatology, French Society for Dermatology and Psychosomatics, Italian Society of Psychosomatic Dermatology, the Dutch Society of Psychosomatic Dermatology, the Spanish Society of Dermatology and Psychiatry etc. More recently, a Psychodermatology two groups Psychodermatology were established first one within the Ibero Latin American College of Dermatology (CILAD) and the other one the Japanese Society of Psychodermatology (JSPD). Summarize, this review details the historical evolution of the relationship between the skin and the mind. It also reveals the emergence of Psychodermatology as a discipline in its own right and describes the societies that have emerged worldwide as a result of collaboration between dermatologists and psychiatrists.