Is Your Acne Emotional?

For those of us who suffer from acne, we typically look to physical things we can change, but evidence suggests that for some people, it may be caused by emotional factors as well.

Emotions are very natural, even negative ones. When confronted with something uncomfortable or stressful, we can use our emotions to either guide us through or cause an impasse along the way. Negative emotions can sometimes get stored within us as toxins, and harboring these negative emotions often takes a toll on our health. This tends to manifest in various ways, one of which is to cause or worsen acne.

My acne was at my absolute worst during I time when I was very unhappy and not dealing with my emotions properly. There was a lot going on that seemed out of my control, and you could see some of the evidence on my face. Although I had acne for a while, I remember having uncharacteristically huge cysts all over, not just in my usual chin and jaw area. Those didn't help to uplift my state of mind at the time and no amount of product seemed to help.

I tend to hold many of my emotions in and my way of coping with them was to go out every single night, put on a happy face and pretend they didn't exist. Although I thought at the time that I was being healthy in other ways, I really wasn't. Eventually, I knew something had to change.

Our mind and body are connected, and the state of the mind can often have a direct effect on our physical selves. Therefore, it's not surprising that our hormones react adversely to stress and might potentially lead to acne. Of course, we can't categorize all acne into a certain box. Everyone's skin is different and every person's acne might be caused by different factors. Sometimes it really is just related to poor diet, hormones, genetics, etc. But it certainly doesn't hurt to explore the emotional side. Yes, I still get pimples here and there, but nowhere near as severe as when I was going through that troubled time.

If you've tried just about everything physical including changing your diet, skincare and expensive procedures, it might be worth seeing whether your emotional state is contributing to your skin problems. Try and figure out what might be bothering you and let it out. This could be done by writing it down in a journal or talking to someone you trust. Sometimes giving yourself some nurturing alone time can really help. When I was going through my issues, I hated being alone because then it was just me and my depressing thoughts. But eventually, I realized that I simply needed some time to myself to sort out my emotions. Occasionally we simply get stuck in our own emotions and we have to slowly purge them out.  The important thing is just to be conscious of this, even if our acne is caused by something else entirely.

Has anyone ever experienced emotional acne? What was your experience and how did you overcome it?