Stress, Anxiety and Depression in Oral lichen planus

Lichen Planus is a relatively common mucocutaneous disease. Although the prevalence is unknown, studies suggest an incidence of 0.02 to 0.22% among the Indian population.The exact etiology of Oral Lichen Planus (OLP) is still not understood. It has been suggested that OLP may have a psychological component in its etiology, and indeed, patients often relate the onset or an exacerbation of their condition to stressful life events. It has been shown, that the emotional arousal resulting from stress leads to activation of the autonomic nervous system and release of neuropeptides from cutaneous sensory nerve fibers, which may be responsible for the initiation and exacerbation of the inflammatory response in the skin. Although a number of epidemiological studies have been carried out in western countries, very little is known about its nature in the Indian population, hence, a sincere effort has been made to assess the status of OLP in a selected hospital-based population, in order to obtain data such as prevalence, distribution according to age, sex, clinical types, intraoral locations, and the association of psychological factors with OLP.