The Emotional Side of Psoriasis
“As a chronic, immune-mediated condition with a relapsing-remitting course, psoriasis exerts continuous pressure on a person’s mental well-being,” says Mohammad Jafferany, MD, a professor of psychodermatology, psychiatry, and behavioral sciences at Central Michigan University College of Medicine in Saginaw and the president of the Association for Psychoneurocutaneous Medicine of North America.
Unpredictability can also take a toll. Psoriasis flare-ups may happen without warning, leaving people feeling anxious or powerless. “Patients often describe a sense of loss of control over their own bodies, resulting in high anxiety, and they are always in fear of relapses,” Jafferany says.
There is a biological element, too, according to Francisco Tausk, MD, a professor of dermatology at the University of Rochester in New York, where he began a multispecialty clinic in dermatology and psychiatry treating people with complicated disease, such as psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.
And when either skin health or mental health worsen, it affects the other. “There is a bidirectional connection between them, since the stigmatization, the disfigurement, and the itch tend to exacerbate depression and anxiety, and on the other hand, depression and anxiety make the skin worse,” he says.
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