How does stigma affect people with psoriasis?

The stigma associated with the autoimmune disease psoriasis can cause anxiety in patients that have the condition. Listen to Alisha Bridges describe her fear that people would assume her psoriasis is contagious.

Transcript

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[MUSIC PLAYING] The biggest thing about having psoriasis

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is you assuming that other people will assume that you're contagious. And so that was the biggest thing that I was afraid of.

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And usually, although I wore, like, long pants and long sleeves, you could still see the psoriasis on my neck.

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You could still see it on my hands, sometimes on my forehead. So typically, when I would reveal it to someone,

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they would be like, oh, OK, well, I seen something was going on with your hands and your neck, but I really wasn't sure what it was, so that explains a lot.

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So before I could even open my mouth in a lot of cases, the psoriasis was already speaking on my behalf.