Personal construct systems of psoriatic patients.

Repertory grid techniques were employed to assess the personal construct systems of psoriatic patients (n = 35), controls with other skin conditions (n = 28) and controls with no skin condition (n = 29). A grid was designed with six supplied constructs representing previously reported subjective experiences of psoriatics, and 12 elements representing typical social conditions. Social adjustment was defined as the relationship between constructs. The results suggest that psoriatics are less well socially adjusted in highly visible situations. There was no difference in social adjustment between males and females specific to the psoriatic group, but body awareness in female psoriatics correlated positively with the severity of the condition.