Psychodermatology in Clinical Care and Translational Research

Psychodermatology is an expanding interdisciplinary field focused on the reciprocal relationship between skin disease and psychological health. Chronic dermatological conditions such as psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, acne, vitiligo, chronic pruritus, and hair disorders are frequently associated with anxiety, depression, stigmatization, sleep disturbance, body image concerns, and reduced quality of life. At the same time, psychological stress may worsen inflammation, itch, scratching behavior, symptom perception, and treatment outcomes. Despite growing recognition of the mind-skin connection, psychodermatology remains underdeveloped across many healthcare systems, with uneven access to integrated services, inconsistent classification frameworks, and important gaps in clinician training, screening pathways, and implementation of evidence-based psychosocial care.

This Research Topic aims to advance psychodermatology across both clinical practice and research by bringing together work on mechanisms, assessment, intervention, and service delivery. The collection seeks contributions that clarify the bidirectional pathways linking psychological distress, neuroimmune responses, behavior, and skin disease activity; identify patient subgroups at greatest psychosocial risk; and evaluate models of integrated dermatology-psychology-psychiatry care. The editorial team is particularly interested in research that bridges clinical observation and translational science, including studies on the mind-skin axis, stress-related disease exacerbation, patient-reported outcomes, psychometric screening, digital tools, and biomarkers relevant to psychocutaneous medicine. The topic also aims to highlight unmet needs in training, access, classification, and multidisciplinary management, while identifying scalable and patient-centered approaches that can be implemented in real-world settings.

This research collection welcomes submissions addressing clinical psychodermatology, translational psychodermatology, and health-service innovation. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to:

• Psychiatric and psychological comorbidities in skin disease
• Itch, pain, sleep, shame, stigma, and body image
• Body-focused repetitive behaviors and other primary psychodermatological disorders
• Screening and diagnostic frameworks
• Stress biology and neuroimmunocutaneous mechanisms
• Psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, self-compassion, and other behavioral interventions
• Psychopharmacology in dermatological settings
• Integrated and collaborative care models
• Clinician education; implementation science
• Digital or remote psychodermatology pathways

This Research Topic encourages Original Research, Systematic Reviews, Meta-analyses, Brief Research Reports, Clinical Trial reports, Methods papers, Perspective articles, and Reviews that strengthen the evidence base for psychologically informed dermatologic care.


Topic Editor Prof. Uwe Gieler receives financial support for research from Beiersdorf Pharma GmbH. The other Topic Editors report no competing interests related to this Research Topic.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Registered Report
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Psychodermatology, Chronic Skin Disease, Neuroinflammation, Skin-Mind Axis, Quality of life, Itch, Integrated care, Behavioral interventions, Translational Research

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.