The level of neuroticism in women with cosmetic skin problems

Relevance. There is a lack of psychological knowledge of patients of cosmetology clinics, although the role of psychological factors in the occurrence, course and treatment of facial skin problems is proved by clinical experience and a number of foreign studies. Among the psychological factors, the emotional state of patients and personal resources of coping with stress are potentially of the greatest importance.

Intention: To determine and compare the level of neuroticism , the level of perceived stress and the level of psychological well-being in groups of women with varying degrees of facial skin defects, as well as the dynamics of these indicators in the process of cosmetic treatment.

Methodology. Using a standardized interview and a set of psychodiagnostic methods: “Level of neuroticism” (UN), “Scale of perceived stress” (ShVS-10), “Index of well-being” (WHO-5), 188 patients of the cosmetology clinic (mean age 40.0 ± 0.8) were divided into groups with low, medium and significant facial skin defects based on the dermatologist’s expert evaluation. Methods of mathematical and statistical data analysis were used: Pearson’s χ2, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), one-sample T-test.

Results and Discussion. The results of the study didn’t confirm the assumption that the level of neuroticism, experienced stress and psychological well-being are related to the severity of the cosmetic problem, although the groups differ statistically significantly in the nature of clinical symptoms and their duration. The measured indicator of the UN technique in all groups of patients both before the start of treatment and after it indicated the probability of neuroticism as 0.13, while the probability of its absence was 0.87. At the same time, in each group of patients and in general, the overall level of perceived stress and the “overstrain” indicator (ShVS-10) were significantly higher than normative values (p = 0.001), as well as the level of stress resistance was significantly lower (p = 0.001) than the normative test indicator. All these data combined show the emotional stability of the personality and good coping resources of the studied women, despite experiencing stressful or traumatic (9 people) situation. In all groups, there was a statistically significant positive dynamics of psychodiagnostic indicators at the end of the course of therapeutic correction.

Conclusion. A psychological examination of the patients of the aesthetic medicine clinic revealed a low level of neuroticism in groups of women with mild, moderate and significant facial skin cosmetic problems, as well as the absence of differences between groups in this indicator. At the same time, indicators of subjective experience of stress associated with dissatisfaction with one’s appearance were increased, with their downward dynamics in the course of treatment. The data obtained allow us to determine the main directions and resources of psychological assistance to patients of the cosmetology clinic. The limitations of the study, which at the same time represent its prospects, are associated with obtaining the results of a comparative analysis of the parameters of patients in a cosmetology clinic with normative data for all psychological tests (not only according to the ShVS), as well as with expanding the range of studied psychological characteristics.

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