Acta clinica Croatica, Vol. 44 No. 2, 2005.
Other
Alopecia Areata in a Female Patient Suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder with Comorbid Mood Disorder - Depressive Episode
Ema N. Gruber
Danijel Crnković
Mirjana Bjedov
Abstract
A case is presented of a 44-year-old female patient, highly educated, suffering from borderline personality disorder with comorbid mood disorder, manifested as a depressive episode, who had been suffering from acute emotional stress for a few months. She was through the procedure of divorce, losing her children by the court decision. Over a two-month period she had lost over 90% of her hair and started treatment for alopecia areata. She was simultaneously treated by a dermatologist and a psychiatrist, and attended group psychotherapy. The impact of psychological factors in the development, evolution and therapeutic management of alopecia areata was documented in this case. Life events and intrapsychically generated stress played an important role in triggering the disease. The treatment for the concomitant psychiatric disorder had a crucial role in this case because it had a favorable effect on the patient's adaptation to her alopecia areata and social setting, and led to better dermatologic evolution of the disease.
Keywords
Alopecia areata - diagnosis; Alopecia areata - psychology; Life change events; Mental disorders - therapy
Hrčak ID:
14255
URI
Publication date:
1.6.2005.
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