Acne, Eczema, Psoriasis and their psychological effects

Word Association Test On Skin Disease Words Do Matter By Audrey “This test in which the organ of the skin played a vital role as psychic mediator was developed by Carl Jung when he worked as a psychiatrist at the Psychiatric Hospital in Zurich at the turn of the century. It was to mark the beginning of his understanding of the psychic material which presented itself to him, in the course of his work, and during his subsequent psychiatric investigations and studies. Between the years 1902 and 1907 Jung’s early work produced the extraordinary and exciting demonstration that the skin’s electrical activity changed remarkably when certain specific words, (charged with emotional overtones for the subject) were spoken in the course of the test. It became clear that mental activity particularly the process of recall evoked the simple verbal stimuli was consistently and continuously reflected by skin changes. Jung’s paper on his psychological investigations with the galvanometer was ...

Comparing “Our” Skin to Theirs By Mari Bozozo Have you ever found yourself randomly gawking at someone for no other reason than to admire (well, more like envy) their perfection personified better known as clear and smooth skin? I know that I have. I would also ask myself, “Why were they blessed with the good skin gene, and I have not? It’s just not fair!” As with a variety of other plights that we all have and continue to endure, being stricken with a chronic skin problem such as acne makes life grossly unfair, also. You all may very well know, and probably from firsthand experience to boot, acne not only impacts an individual physically, but it also packs a pretty mean punch mentally, emotionally, and psychologically. Being in an almost constant state of unhappiness and self-consciousness, never being able to fully relax in the presence of others, and overall letting one’s appearance dictate just how he/she would live life is what acne has done to sufferers by the masses, ...

Stress and Acne By Mari Bozozo I’ll never forget that day that I was in the checkout line at a local discount retailer over a decade ago. The cashier, although seemingly pleasant, fell very short where boundaries and proper etiquette were concerned. Why do I say that you ask? As I loaded my items onto the counter, he pointed to his face and uttered, “You’re breaking out.” Like the thought never crossed my mind. Like I didn’t obsess over my appearance for umpteen times during a given day. Like I needed a total stranger to point out the all too obvious to me, in front of other strangers, to boot! Aside from feeling grossly offended, appalled, mortified, and ashamed, I was flabbergasted to think that some random person, a professional at that, would have the proverbial balls to say that to me. While I can’t recall what my exact rebuttal was (honestly, what could I rebut, as the evidence was literally all over my jawline) I knew that I’d hit an all-time new low. And stress was unequivoca...