Personality characteristics and severity of depression in alopecia areata patients

The relationship between psychological factors and alopecia areata is already a controversial issue. Previous researches have mainly focussed on the impact of stressors and occasionally the underlying psychiatric disorders. The relationship of personality with this disease has not been investigated. A group of alopecia areata patients ( n=31) was compared with a control group ( n=31) of age matched skin infection patients ( fungal, bacterial, viral and parasitic), applying the Iranian short form version of Minnesota Multiphasic personality inventory ( MMPI), Eysenck personality inventory ( EPI) and back depression inventory ( BDI). Personality tests revealed no differences except a mild neurotic tendency in both alopecia areata and control women. This difference is interpreted to be accounted for by the aesthetic stressor of alopecia and not a primary personality characteristics. There was  no significant difference between the groups on severity of depression.