Mindfulness and Meditation for Psoriasis: A Systematic Review

Psoriasis is a chronic, recurrent inflammatory skin condition in which flares are commonly associated with stress. One important non-pharmacological method for managing stress in patients with psoriasis is mindfulness and/or meditation. The objective of this review is to provide an update on research studies investigating the role of mindfulness and meditation in treating psoriasis symptoms, severity, and quality of life. Of six randomized control trials (RCTs) identified, five demonstrated improvement in self-administered psoriasis area and severity index (saPASI) after 8 or 12 weeks of guided meditation. One RCT and one non-randomized control trial reported mental health benefits in psoriasis patients following guided meditation. These results suggest that meditation can be used as a tool to improve both psoriasis skin severity and patient quality of life in the short term. More research is needed to evaluate the effect of meditation on psoriasis severity and quality of life in the long term.