How Psoriasis Stigma Impacts Health

(National Psoriasis Foundation) – You’ve seen the commercials. Psoriasis treatments are everywhere. So it would follow that people with psoriasis can also be found everywhere, right? In theory, yes. About 3 percent of all people will develop psoriasis – a chronic, inflammatory disease that can have severe consequences and comes with an unwelcome increased risk of several related diseases. But what the numbers don’t show is the impact that shame and stigma can have and the unintended consequences of those feelings.More than 125 million people worldwide live with psoriasis. If you attend a National Football League game this fall or winter, you’ll be in a stadium with more than 2,000 people who have developed psoriasis. Or maybe music is more your thing. If you saw Taylor Swift at the average Eras Tour venue in the U.S., about 2,300 of your fellow Swifties in attendance were living with this lifelong disease.When you frame it that way and think about all the psoriasis drug commercials filling up your screen, it may sound like the disease is well understood – even normalized. But the results of the new Psoriasis Health Indicator Report bring a dark reality to light: Misunderstandings about psoriasis and the people who live with this disease are rampant. Worse yet, stigma about the disease is a contributing factor to people living in isolation or not seeking care.Misunderstandings Have Consequences According to the report, more than half of the people in the U.S. who do not live with psoriasis say they would be uncomfortable dating someone with the disease, and more than 40 percent say they wouldn’t even be comfortable shaking hands with someone living with psoriasis.How would you feel if 1 in 3 people were uncomfortable having you in their home? Yes, another sad reality laid out in the report. What about if 1 in 4 people were closed off to being your friend because of a disease you live with? Ouch.With so much stigma – such a drastic level of misunderstanding and downright discrimination – would you be open about your life with psoriasis? Would you be willing to pursue treatment?Psoriasis is not contagious, but it is a public health concern. People with this disease are at an elevated risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, psoriatic arthritis, and depression. All of those risks – as well as the threat of developing more severe psoriasis – increase when the disease is left untreated. Booking an appointment with a healthcare provider is hard enough. But carrying around all the stigma-driven shame that comes with having this visible disease makes the pursuit of proper disease management and treatment from a qualified specialist much more unlikely.The Truth HealsTragically, all this stigma is a part of daily life for the 8 million people in the U.S. who live with psoriasis, but people are speaking out, and each time they do, the world gains a little more understanding. Take Takieyah Mathis of Fayetteville, North Carolina for example. She recently opened up in the National Psoriasis Foundation’s In Focus: #ThisIsPsoriasis video series about the challenges she faces each day with this disease and the lessons she’s learned. “Psoriasis put me in a big self-esteem hole,” she shares. “I started to worry about my hair, my skin.” Takieyah was constantly worried about who was looking at her because of the lesions on her skin.Takieyah took some time to work up the resolve to face the stigma and the stares from onlookers, but as a model, mother, and community builder – psoriasis was not going to hold her back. With the support of her husband and community, she took back control of her self-belief. “You are not your diagnosis. Try to find ways that make you feel beautiful or feel good,” she says. “Finding that peace within yourself is really what’s going to carry you through every day.”We all know someone with psoriasis. We owe it to them to promote encouragement and support in the face of judgement and misunderstanding. August is Psoriasis Action Month, and thanks to the increased attention, and stories like Takieyah’s who are combatting stigma head-on with the truth and their lived experience, the rest of the world is gaining a little added perspective and compassion.To learn more about Takieyah or to hear from others who live with psoriasis, visit psoriasis.org/in-focus.