For this essay I have decided to look at the condition of psoriasis and the benefits of using Hypnotherapy as a complementary treatment for that disease

For this essay I have decided to look at the condition of psoriasis and the benefits of using Hypnotherapy as a complementary treatment for that disease. I have chosen this condition as I have the history of it in my family and one of my sisters, D has suffered that for several years. Consequently investigating the subject may be of direct relevance to me and of benefit to my well-being.
In this essay I will describe what psoriasis is, the ways modern medicine sees possible causes of psoriasis and its physical representations, enlist the known types of the disease and the treatments available to the patients. Obviously I will explore the possibilities and ways suggested by professionals how to treat psoriasis using hypnotherapy. The relevant screeds will be attached to the essay.
Psoriasis is a chronic skin and sometimes joints disorder considered by medical professionals as autoimmune disease. The fact that it is chronic doesn’t have to mean that one has visible symptoms all the time as the disease may have flares and moments of regression when it may disappear completely for some periods of time. Unfortunately American Academy of Dermatology state clearly that no one knows the cure for this disease yet and contemporary medicine can only offer the patient the treatments that can improve symptoms and appearance of the affected skin (AAD).
There are five most common types of psoriasis: plaque, guttate, inverse, pustular, erythrodermic and psoriasis arthritis. However there are many less frequent types and the patient can suffer more than one type of it at the same time (NHS). It is also possible that one form of disease may change into another one and then into another again.
Each of the types looks a bit different however the general rule is that psoriasis causes red, flaky, crusty patches of skin that are dry and may be covered in silverfish scale. In some cases the patches are itchy or even sore. The type D suffers, plaque psoriasis is the most common one. More than 1,6 million people in the UK suffer that form of it. It usually tends to affect young to middle-aged people disregarding their sex and in D’s case it started when she was about 30. The plaques usually appear on joint areas like elbows, knees and finger joints.
Researchers have not proven the precise cause of the disease however the professionals believe it develops due to combination of immune, genetic and environmental factors (Feldman). They believe that for unknown reasons certain immune cells become overactive and act as if they were fighting an infection or healing a wound, that doesn’t exist, which leads to the rapid growth of skin cells (they multiply 28 times faster than skin in normal condition) causing psoriatic plaques to form (PA).
Some patients like D have family history of the disease which would suggest genetic background of it however the others do not have any family members that suffered any form of psoriasis and no particular gene has been identified as a responsible for that disease so far. On the other hand many researchers suggest that some flare-ups of psoriasis can be triggered by environmental factors, such as stress or anxiety, injury to skin, hormonal changes, or certain infections or medications (Feldman).