Emotional factors can trigger
skin problems, or they may
worsen symptoms. While heredity,
bacteria, viruses, hormones,
and chemical irritants play
a clear role in many skin
problems, mind and body always
do an intricate dance together.
If your skin condition doesn't
seem to be improving, it may
be time to determine the role
that emotions are playing
in your acne, psoriasis, rosacea,
or whatever skin condition
you're experiencing.
How important is the emotional
factor in your illness?
Ask yourself:
1. Do your symptoms get worse--or
better--with emotional turmoil?
2. Is your condition more
stubborn, severe, or recurrent
than your doctor expects?
3. Are usually effective treatments
not working for you?
4. Do most treatments work
but not for long?
5. Is each disappearing symptom
quickly replaced with another?
6. Do your symptoms get better
or worse in a very erratic,
seemingly nonsensical way?
7. Do you see striking ups
and downs in your symptoms
with changes in your social
environment: vacations, hospitalizations,
business trips, or the comings
of family members or bosses?
8. Do people find you strikingly
stoic, unruffled, or computer
like in the face of stressful
life events?
9. Is your level of distress
and concern about your problem
strikingly high or conspicuously
absent?
10. Is your skin worse in
the morning, suggesting that
you rub or scratch unintentionally
at night?
11. Do you have trouble following
your health care provider's
instructions?
12. Do you do things you know
will hurt your skin, such
as picking or scratching,
squeezing pimples, or overexposing
yourself to sunlight?
13. Do you feel excessively
dependent on your dermatologist
or excessively angry with
him or her? (Even if the faults
are real, are you overreacting?)
14. Does it seem that others
notice improvements in your
skin before you do? Is it
hard for you to acknowledge
when your skin has improved?
The more of these questions
you answered positively, the
more likely you can helped
by such psychological tools
as relaxation, imaging, focused
psychotherapy, biofeedback,
and hypnosis and self-hypnosis.
There is a substantial body
of research, including many
well-controlled studies, documenting
how helpful these techniques
can be. Mainstream doctors
are more and more receptive
as the newer research documents
not only these tools' effectiveness,
but the specific physiological
mechanism that allow the techniques
to work. Enhanced bloodflow,
various immune system mechanisms,
and stress hormones are often
involved.
Emotional stress can keep
the most effective medical
treatment from working. Yet
the same mind-body link, when
it is working FOR you, can
produce dramatic improvements.
SIDEBAR:
Which problems are psychological
techniques most effective
for?
-acne
- allergies of the skin
- alopecia
- canker sores
- eczema
- herpes (oral and genital)
- hives
- pain
- picking
- psoriasis
- rosacea
- scratching
- shingles
- vitiligo
- warts
About the Author
Ted A. Grossbart, Ph.D., of
Harvard Medical School is
a leading authority on the
psychology of skin care. His
book Skin Deep: A Mind/Body
Program for Health Skin (Health
Press, Albuquerque, NM) is
a practical guide to using
your mind to cure your skin.
His Skin Deep website is at
http://grossbart.com.
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