The flare. The breakout. The pimple. Whether it’s one bump or several, nothing can truly describe the frustration, stress, and helplessness that can come along when you notice new acne forming. The feelings and thoughts toward acne for many of us are just as, if not more nagging than the pimple itself at the end of the day.
And yet, treatment for acne is geared mostly toward the physical nature of it rather than the large space it can occupy in the mind and emotions. Those who haven’t struggled with acne may not realize the strong connection that it can have with how someone thinks and feels on a daily basis. Often, acne flares at times when we’re already not at our best or are dealing with chronic stress. While these times can bring on more acne, acne also seems to make these times more tough.
The mind-body connection (or the mind-skin connection) is something that those who deal with acne are very familiar with, whether or not it’s discussed during a doctor’s appointment. Most of the time, it’s not. This connection becomes very real for those who can’t get away from acne symptoms, because the discouraging mindset that acne often leads to can spread to other areas of life beyond the skin.
All of a sudden, that job interview can feel out of reach. Hanging out with friends. Enjoying getting dressed for the day. Looking forward to meals (out of fear of which foods may cause acne). A date. Even just going to the store to grab milk.
It’s not like any of these things are impossible to do during an acne breakout, but often enough, acne can influence how open we are to putting ourselves out there. To completely ignore acne’s strong effect on the mind ends up doing a disservice to our skin. Unfortunately, it can start to feel like the pills, creams, supplements, and diets we use to prevent acne get run over by an acne-induced world we feel stuck in, both physically and mentally.
The growing field of psychodermatology actually studies the role that stress, thoughts, and emotions can play in skin issues and vice versa. It has led to current scientific research studies that explore that connection more in-depth, including for acne. In health care, the emerging field has led to a cross between talk therapy and dermatology.
Instead of 10-15 minute long appointments that involve a quick glance at the skin followed by a prescription, practitioners of psychodermatology take the time to ask about acne’s impact on a patient’s life and mental-emotional health in addition to providing a physical form of treatment like oral or topical medication. This Allure article from June 2021 does a great job of highlighting the benefits of this mind-body approach.
It’s becoming more accepted these days that acne is not just physical—it’s mental too. In conversation, acne causing culprits are no longer limited to bacteria, excess sebum, diet, or not changing pillow cases often enough. There is more talk about stress, cortisol, and the interplay of different hormone imbalances as well. It’s more common to talk about the anxiety and social withdrawal that acne can lead to. It’s becoming more widely known that acne can initiate or worsen feelings of depression or being held back in life.
If actual psychodermatologists are not available for acne treatment in your area, there are still plenty of ways you can introduce the mind-body connection into caring for your skin.
For a natural health approach, you can seek out a naturopathic doctor or functional medicine doctor to work with toward addressing both the physical and mental aspects of acne. A doctor who also incorporates homeopathy and/or naturopathic counseling would be best suited for providing this type of treatment, because they can talk with you about how acne has impacted your mindset and help you address the mental-emotional effects of acne. This is the treatment we offer at Mind Body Acne Doc, or you can search for a provider local to you. You can work with a naturopath even while getting care from a dermatologist.
If you are currently working with a dermatologist on treating the physical symptoms of acne, you can also try out counseling that helps you work out emotions such as anxiety or depression, or more specifically helps you talk through feelings that are coming up toward acne.
Whoever you choose to work with, allowing your emotions about acne some level of expression can help calm the nervous system and stress response that surrounds acne; can help you cope with acne breakouts more effectively; can help remove any excessive focus on acne mentally; and may help your prescriptions or natural treatments work more effectively by helping the skin (and mind) feel less reactive overall. You may find yourself living more freely after talking with someone, even if acne symptoms haven’t quite cleared yet. And feeling more free to go about in daily life with less anxiety can give you more energy to heal your skin.
If you’re not ready to work with someone right now, you can try out simple mind-body techniques at home that can be helpful alongside your other skin care and acne treatments. Strengthening the communication between your mind and your skin can give that extra boost you need to start seeing real results. Below are 12 tips from Dr. Patel’s book Acne: Just Another Four-Letter Word that can help you start brainstorming on how to include the mind-body connection in your routine:
- Pay as little attention to acne as possible—and walk away from the mirror if you’re staring at it for too long.
- Recognize the profane words and messages that this four-letter word is using against you.
- Question acne’s authority to police your skin and your life.
- Be a friend to yourself and listen to your unique voice (that is separate from acne’s voice).
- Learn to accept your flaws and challenges, and set your own bar rather than trying to live up to acne’s or other people’s expectations of you.
- Catch acne red-handed when it’s planting fears and superstitions in your head.
- Head out of the room you’re tempted to hide in, and see what happens next.
- Give yourself a healthy dose of “bad” from time to time.
- If you’re mad at acne and influences like it, it’s okay to admit that.
- Don’t wait for a miracle, and take steps forward that make sense to you.
- Treat yourself how you want to be treated, and then you can learn where to place boundaries with others.
- Say bye to acne starting now, and live your life.