Volume 30, Issue 167, January 2026

Stress, anxiety, depression and psychiatric/psychological methods in treatment of Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria

Wojciech Niemirski^1♦, Mateusz Marciniak², Adam Torbicki³, Michał Korpalski⁴, Maria Pawluczyk⁵, Krzysztof Pawlikowski⁶, Marek Żygłowicz⁷, Dominik Augustyn⁸, Piotr Gaworek⁹, Alicja Trybuła¹⁰

¹District Health Centre in Otwock, Batorego 44 Street, 05-400 Otwock, Poland
²Mikołaj Kopernik Provincial Multi-Specialist Center of Oncology and Traumatology Pabianicka 62, 93-513 Łódź, Poland
³Nicolaus Copernicus Hospital, COPERNICUS Medical Entity limited liability company under Polish law, Nowe Ogrody 1/6 Street, 80-803 Gdańsk, Poland
⁴Dr. Tytus Chałubiński Radom Specialist Hospital, Adolfa Tochtermana 1 Street, 26- 610 Radom, Poland
⁵District Hospital in Sochaczew, Batalionów Chłopskich 3/7 Street, 96-500 Sochaczew, Poland
⁶University Clinical Center of the Medical University of Warsaw, Banacha 1A Street, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland
⁷Ludwik Rydygier Specialist Hospital, Złota Jesień 1 Street, 31-826 Kraków, Poland
⁸Ludwik Rydygier Specialist Hospital, Złota Jesień 1 Street, 31-826 Kraków, Poland
⁹Międzyleski Specialist Hospital in Warsaw, Bursztynowa 2 Street, 04-749 Warsaw, Poland
¹⁰Kazimierz Pułaski University of Technology and Humanities in Radom: Radom, Mazovia, PL Jacka Malczewskiego 29, 26-600 Radom, Poland

^♦Corresponding author
Wojciech Niemirski, District Health Centre in Otwock, Batorego 44 Street, 05-400 Otwock, Poland

ABSTRACT

Introduction: In Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria (CSU), onset of symptoms can be triggered by various factors, including psychological stress. Furthermore, disease activity itself can cause stress and disturbance of sleep, which become contributing factors to development of depression and anxiety. Purpose: The objective is to discuss the role of psychiatric and psychological methods as part of CSU treatment. The review analyses studies researching a correlation of CSU with psychiatric conditions and the use of psychiatric/psychological methods in CSU. Materials and Methods: Authors conducted a literature search using the PubMed database to identify relevant studies published between January 2015 and June 2025. The following keywords were used in various combinations: “chronic spontaneous urticaria”, “stress”, “anxiety”, “depression”, “psychological treatment”, and “psychiatric methods”. Main results: Anxiety and depression are more prevalent in CSU population, and their severity seems to correlate with urticaria activity; sleep disturbance is a possible mediator of this correlation. Psychiatric/psychological methods can decrease CSU activity, but there is not enough evidence to strongly support this claim. Conclusions: Low sleep quality, anxiety and depression are more common in CSU patients, and there is a possible causal relationship between them, with sleep disturbance as a potential mediator. There is not enough evidence to strongly endorse psychiatric/psychological methods for the prevention/alleviation of CSU symptoms. Clinicians treating patients with CSU should be aware of the increased risk of psychiatric comorbidity and consider diagnostic and treatment options regarding those conditions. Further research is needed.

Keywords: Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria, anxiety, depression, stress, psychiatry

Medical Science, 2026, 30, e20ms3672

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi.v30i167.e20ms3672

Published: 30 January 2026