Depression in people with skin conditions: the effects of disgust and self‐compassion

Objectives. Skin conditions can be accompanied by significant levels of depression; there is therefore a need to identify the associated psychological factors to assist with the development of appropriate interventions. This study sought to examine the effects of disgust propensity, disgust sensitivity, self-focused/ruminative disgust, and self-compassion on depression in people with skin conditions. Design. A cross-sectional survey with follow-up survey. Methods. Dermatology outpatients (N = 147) completed self-report measures of disgust traits, self-compassion, and depression. At three-month follow-up, participants (N = 80) completed the depression measure again. Results. Multiple regression analyses revealed that disgust propensity, disgust sensitivity, self-focused/ruminative disgust, and self-compassion each explained significant amounts of variance in baseline depression. Self-compassion also explained a significant amount of variance in depression at follow-up, after accounting for baseline depression. In addition, self-compassion moderated the effect of disgust propensity on depression at baseline, such that at high levels of self-compassion, disgust propensity no longer had a positive relationship with depression. Conclusions. Disgust traits contribute to depression in people with skin conditions, while being self-compassionate may be protective against depression. High selfcompassion also buffers the effects of disgust propensity on depression in people with skin conditions. The findings indicate the potential of compassion-focused interventions for depression in people with skin conditions