September 16, 2010

expert reaction to research published in Journal of Investigative Dermatology on acne and mental health

Research from Norway looked at the link between severe adolescent acne and mental health problems including depression.

Prof Jim Stevenson, Professor of Psychology, University of Southampton, said:

“This large scale study from Norway shows an increased level of depression and suicidal ideation in adolescents with acne. It adds to similar reports from Australia, New Zealand and Japan. In the UK too acne has been shown to have a considerable impact on emotional health.”

Prof Ian Goodyer, Professor of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, said:

“This is a thoughtful cross sectional study that adds to the literature on the negative impact of severe acne on mental health and suicidal ideation. The study is aware of its own limitations including limited information on how reliable and valid the suicidal measure is in this sample. It would be nice to know more about the acne history and whether the findings were more related to chronic sufferers with poor treatment response and whether other non-acne aspects in their lives (such psychiatric disorders in parents, marital difficulties and friendship breakups near the time of participation in this study) that were not measured may be accounting for the associations with mental health.

“From this research I do not think we can say negative impacts on mental health were nothing to do with the drugs taken for severe acne, there may be additive effects in an already vulnerable group. We cannot draw any conclusions about direction of effects but can conjecture that mental health difficulties including suicidal ideation are increased in those with acne. The findings certainly support further more detailed examination of the mental health of individuals with acne.”