Emotional Causes of Psoriasis

What is Psoriasis?

Psoriasis is an auto-immune skin problem that can be caused by emotional issues, physical issues, or a mixture of both. Psoriasis causes dry, rough, and raised skin, with a red discoloring in the effected areas. Psoriasis can be painful in some cases, and can also be emotional painful in others where the skin problems are in more prominent features of the body such as the face or arms.

Types of Psoriasis

There are six possible types of psoriasis that a person may develop:

- Pustular psoriasis: Small white legions on the skin surrounded by red dry skin.

- Erythrodermic psoriasis: Large red areas of the skin. Usually accompanied by severe itching and pain on the affected areas.

- Inverse psoriasis: Red rough and dry skin that develops in the folds of your skin.

- Plaque psoriasis: Characterized by red raised bumps on the skin that develop in patches across the body. This type often also has a gray tinted scale over the affected areas.

- Guttate psoriasis: Tiny red spots across areas of the skin.

- Psoriatic arthritis: Internal psoriasis that only affects the joints.

Emotional Causes of Psoriasis

Psoriasis is largely caused by a malfunction in your immune system. Numerous studies have shown that chronic emotional stress can severely depress the immune system in an otherwise healthy individual. In fact there is an entire field of study called psychoneuroimmunology that is specifically dedicated to researching how stress can affect your immune system. The rough and red skin that is produced by psoriasis, is the effect of your nervous system being overstimulated. Since stress causes your body to produce a "fight-or-flight" syndrome, which in turn causes your body to release an overabundance of hormones and chemicals to prepare your body for the worst, your skin can take quite the hit. As your immune system is stimulated, it can also signal the under workings of your skin that tell it when to reproduce and replace itself (shed and regrow). If your skin is not ready to shed, this signal can cause a new layer of skin to grow over perfectly healthy skin. The two react with each other, causing redness, swelling, and flaking.

Other Causes of Psoriasis

Psoriasis may also be caused by physical and environmental factors. Too much exposure to sunlight, dry climates and any type of infection may also cause psoriasis to develop.

Treatment for Emotional Psoriasis

Topical lotions and herbal remedies may help treat the physical outbreak of psoriasis. However, if the outbreak is being caused by emotional stress, other steps may need to be taken to prevent future outbreaks. In most cases relieving the cause of stress can be a great remedy for an outbreak. This may include exercising, counseling, taking up a relaxing hobby, or in some cases pharmaceutical intervention with anti-anxiety medications.