Psoriasis does appear to cause significant psychosocial morbidity. Greater awareness by physicians and more comprehensive treatment addressing these psychosocial components may avert, or at least minimize, some of these negative sequelae.

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Isolated sleep paralysis (ISP) was assessed in African Americans and Whites diagnosed with panic disorder and other anxiety disorders. Participants were recruited from an outpatient clinic where they were diagnosed with panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, socialphobia, and simple phobia. Control groups of volunteers without a history of psychiatric disorder were included. All research participants completed a questionnaire to assess for ISP Group differences were analyzed through a series of chi-square analyses. The incidence of recurrent ISP was significantly higher in African Americans with panic disorder (59.6%) as compared with African Americans with other anxiety disorders (11.1%), African American control group participants (23 %), Whites with panic disorder (7.5 %), Whites with other anxiety disorders (0%), and White control group participants (6%). Recurrent ISP was found to be more common among African American participants, particularly for those with panic disorder. African Americans with panic disorder may experience recurrent ISP as afeature of their disorder.

T ders was first discussed by Wilson in his book Diseuses of the Skin, published in 1842 (Gil et al., 1988). Modern psychosomatic research in dermatology began in the 1930s, when a number of physicians wrote about the relationship between specific skin diseases and unconscious conflictual and personality constellations (Koblenzer, 1983). Despite the flurry of interest earlier in this century and the work of current dermatologist-psychiatrists such as Koblenzer, material on the

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