“Together we can sort it out”

Our skin is the largest and most visible organ of your body. It reacts to stimuli from inside you and out. Goose pimples appear when we chill or become frightened. We flush when we have exercised or become angry.  

The epidermis (outer skin) is durable yet sensitive, tough enough to walk on all day, yet vulnerable to internal stresses. Our skin is the container for our bodies and a barrier to outside invaders. 

It is much easier to understand skin problems when you realize that both the skin  and the nervous system spring from a common ancestry in the embryo stage of human development. 

While many skin problems have clearly physiological causes, it should also not be surprising that our skin can be the first place a call for help is issued from our nervous system or our psyche. A rash, hives, itching and pimples can the first signal that something inside is out of balance. That "something" may be physical, psychological, or both. 

          Not every itch, pimple, and rash is an internal cry. Poison ivy, fleas, mosquito­ clogged pores, among other things, can be responsible, too. Have a phy­sical up, check any skin problem to see if there is an organic irritation. 

Many skin disorders are caused by outside irritants, bacteria and viruses and aggravated by internal conditions. Warts, psoriasis, eczema, herpes, and (itching) all are affected by emotional factors and stress. 

               It is not easy to catalogue skin disorders as being caused by either psychological conditions., there is no clear line between mind and body-the two systems are interwoven. Disease  can be brought on or allowed to develop because of a lowering of immune system. 

We might just scratch, put on some calamine lotion or cold compresses, and our symptoms will go away. But go away where? 

If our skin conditions are caused by emotional problems, the stress, conflict, feelings that we have ignored will find another body part to aggravate. ­ Usually, what we repress becomes stronger until it finds a way to be expressed, ventilated, or break out. Perhaps the stomach will be next-ulcers? Maybe our circulatory system-high blood pressure? 

We would be smart to pay attention and turn an ear inward. Is an unexplained rash or itching a voice from within, a call for help from our ‘protector or guardian’ inside us? We need to be sensitive to events, feelings, and situations in our lives that may need it released. Anger expressed, stress released, or anxiety calmed. 

Anxiety is often related to skin problems. Self-hypnosis (all hypnosis is self hypnosis) is an excellent pre­scription for the desired improvements as well as for an understanding of the cause. 

With skin disorders, people often get more anxious because they feel their body is out of control or because the problem may be so easily seen by others. 

Hypnosis operates very closely with the autonomic nervous systems which controls involuntary body functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, blood flow, temperature regulation, metabolism, respiration, and many blood chem­istry processes that influence the immune system. Self-hypnosis can be effec­tive in gaining relief from many skin conditions because it can be used to positive affect.