Terapia de exposição à realidade virtual para tratamento da ansiedade social em indivíduos com vitiligo

• Autor(a) principal: Teixeira, Vanina Papini Góes
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFS
• Texto Completo: http://ri.ufs.br/jspui/handle/riufs/16846
• topic: Ciências da saúde; Vitiligo; Ansiedade social; Depressão; Terapia; Realidade virtual; Health Sciences; Vitiligo; Social Anxiety; Depression; Therapy; Virtual Reality; CIENCIAS DA SAUDE

Vitiligo is a chronic systemic disease that is characterized by hypopigmented macules, caused by the destruction of melanocytes in the affected skin. It has a high worldwide prevalence and significant levels of anxiety and depression, which affects the quality of life of those affected. Some studies indicate that individuals with vitiligo have high levels of social anxiety, as well as depression and general anxiety, in addition to presenting few strategies for coping with issues related to their skin condition. Initially, a cross-sectional study was carried out to identify the levels of social anxiety, generalized anxiety, depression and coping. For this, a sociodemographic questionnaire was used, the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), the Hamilton Depression and Anxiety Scale (HAM-D and HAM-A, respectively) and the Coping Strategies Inventory. Fifty-eight adult individuals with vitiligo participated, attended at the dermatology outpatient clinics of the State University of Health Sciences of Alagoas and the University Hospital of the Federal University of Sergipe. The average age of the individuals who composed the sample was 36.36 years (± 12.48). The average levels of total social anxiety observed was 41.52 (± 7.69), depression was 18.1 (± 4.0) and generalized anxiety was 22.8 (± 5.87). With regard to coping strategies, total score, the mean was 36.5 (± 4.7). 69% had symptoms of social anxiety at the mild level, 22.4% at the moderate level; in relation to symptoms of depression, 5.2% had mild symptoms, 44.9% had moderate symptoms, 39.6% had severe symptoms and 6.9% had very severe symptoms. With regard to symptoms of generalized anxiety, 17.2% of the subjects had symptoms of mild level, 53.5% of moderate level and 29.3% of severe level. For patients who indicated moderate levels of social anxiety, and who agreed to participate, an intervention based on cognitive-behavioral therapy, called Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET), was performed to improve high levels of social anxiety. Virtual Reality (VR) was used in this study as a therapeutic resource in a cognitive-behavioral intervention to improve levels of social anxiety. Significant positive correlations were found between SAD, TDM and TAG and age of onset of vitiligo, subjective assessment of the severity of the disease and objective assessment of the severity of the disease, and negative and significant correlations between time of living with vitiligo and social anxiety, depression and generalized anxiety. Regarding coping strategies, individuals with vitiligo use few strategies. Individuals who received virtual reality exposure therapy experienced a significant reduction (p <0.01) in the symptoms of social anxiety, depression and generalized anxiety. Given the above, it can be concluded that individuals with vitiligo, who comprised the sample of this study, obtained high levels of social anxiety, depression and generalized anxiety. Exposure therapy to virtual reality was effective in reducing the levels of symptoms of social anxiety disorder in individuals with vitiligo, and could be an alternative for treatment. The study highlights the relevance of evaluating these psychiatric disorders in individuals with vitiligo, as well as the inclusion of psychological therapy for these patients in the treatment of their skin condition.