Objective: To investigate the effects of mindfulness cognitive therapy (MCT) versus cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) on negative emotions and quality of life in patients with psoriasis. Methods A total of 130 patients with psoriasis treated in our hospital from January 2020 to June 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. They were randomly divided into a control group (65 cases, cognitive behavioral therapy) and an experimental group (65 cases, positive cognitive therapy). The total effective rate, stigma score, negative emotion score, compliance rate, mindfulness level, adverse reactions and quality of life score of the two groups were compared. Results The total effective rate was 96.92% in the experimental group and 83.08% in the control group (P < 0.05). The stigma score, SAS score and SDS score of the experimental group were significantly lower than those of the control group (P < 0.05). The compliance rates of the experimental group and the control group were 95.38% and 83.08%, respectively (P < 0.05). In the dimension of mindfulness level, the scores of observation, no judgment and no action in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05). The DLQI scores of the experimental group were significantly lower than those of the control group (P < 0.05). The incidence of adverse reactions was 7.69% in the experimental group and 20.00% in the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusion The mindfulness cognitive therapy for patients with psoriasis has significant effect, which is conducive to improving negative emotions and quality of life, and is worthy of adoption.