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Taylor and Francis Group, Psychology, Health and Medicine, 5(18), p. 501-514, 2013

DOI: 10.1080/13548506.2012.736625

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Can stress reduction interventions improve psoriasis? A review.

This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

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Abstract

Psoriasis remains incurable and many sufferers experience related psychological distress and a lower quality of life comparable with other chronic diseases. A subpopulation of people with psoriasis believes their condition is exacerbated by psychological stress. This review analyses whether stress-reduction interventions can reduce: the physical severity of psoriasis and related psychological distress. A systematic search across EMBASE, MEDLINE, The Cochrane Library SIGLE and PsychInfo, identified 730 trials and 10 were included. Three trials found a significant difference in psoriasis outcomes between groups post-intervention, (p < 0.05). Seven studies included a psychological outcome and three found a significant difference (p < 0.05). Three trials included a quality of life measurement and one of these reported a significant improvement (p < 0.001). Due to low quality evidence it is currently insufficient to judge stress reduction interventions as either effective or ineffective. We make nine recommendations for future research in this multidisciplinary field.