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If you have psoriasis, you’ll want to do everything you can to manage your condition. Medication can help you minimize flare-ups, and so can finding healthy ways to cope with known triggers — including psychological stress.
Psoriasis and stress are intricately linked. Although psoriasis is a genetic condition, environmental factors, such as traumatic life events, can make symptoms worse, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.
That’s why it’s crucial to make stress management a key component of your psoriasis treatment plan.
Doctors and researchers do not yet fully understand what causes psoriasis, but the disease is thought to occur when the immune system turns on the body, causing skin cells to grow abnormally and rapidly. Because stress can have an impact on the immune system, doctors have long suspected it may impact psoriasis, and recent research supports this theory.