Hypnotherapy for Psoriasis
We believe that we can help around 50% of clients using hypnotherapy for psoriasis. Our experience has given us a deep understanding of the things that can trigger, and usually do, the start of psoriasis.
Common psoriasis traits and feelings
It is quite common for a client with psoriasis to feel that they are :-
- Not good enough
- Disgusting
- Ugly
- Useless
- Worthless
The psoriasis sufferer often identifies themselves with the psoriasis and believe that they will never get rid of it. It is these feelings and beliefs that maintain and hamper any recovery. Removal of these beliefs is paramount to achieving a successful outcome for the client.
“Most of the clients I see have a deep anger. Which can be self-directed, at something external and normally at the psoriasis as well.”
Paul Howard, psoriasis specialist.
We use hypnotherapy for psoriasis to create a change in the beliefs and feelings that clients hold about themselves at a subconscious level. We also lessen the effects of any trauma or stressful events that have happened in the past, by allowing the client to reassess the events, processing it with their adult mind. the signals that are sent to your skin it has been shown in other studies to be very effective with psoriasis see below. For our clients that have used our programme have at the least been able to be far more relaxed about their Psoriasis.
Hypnotherapy can also help them to “almost” forget about their condition. It also helps to reduce the redness which helps to reduce the itching that people often experience. Your skin is the largest organ in your body and as an organ, it is controlled completely by your sub-conscious mind.
As an example, if you were to become embarrassed the skin on your face will become red with the increased blood flow to the skin. If I asked you to do that with your conscious mind you could not do it. The same thing happens during illness and grief where a wan and pale expression is quite common.
Research on hypnotherapy for psoriasis
In our internal research that we conducted in 2003 we achieved a 50% clear up rate but only with plaque psoriasis. We had little or no effect on guttee psoriasis. However, in virtually all the subjects we achieved significant shifts in the perceptions of themselves and their psoriasis. Which in itself is a significant change.
For more information, please visit here. This is a clinical study by the Department of Dermatology, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore on the use of Hypnosis with psoriasis.
For most of the clients we have worked with, the event which seems to trigger it of is a childhood trauma or a period of high stress. Things like :-
- Divorce
- Moving home
- Changing schools
- Bereavement
- Bullying
- Significant illness
- Abuse
- Birth of sibling
Of course this list is not exhaustive but it would cover the majority of the clients we have seen. These sort of events can create internal conflict, low-self-esteem, anger, frustration or low self-confidence within the client at a very young age. This type of self-conditioning can be powerful and become deep rooted.
It is our belief that the subconscious learns to use psoriasis as a way of seeking attention or possibly distracting attention away from an issue that the client did not want or could not deal with at the time.
For example: suppose a child is in a situation where her parents are often arguing maybe even violently at times the child may feel frightened, lonely, confused and feel very insecure. By producing psoriasis the subconscious mind will learn that through psoriasis the child will get attention and because the parents are focusing once again on the child’s needs they may even stop arguing as much. This is what is called a secondary gain. Without realising it the child is getting a benefit from psoriasis. This behaviour can become ingrained very quickly and will then remain even if the benefit no longer occurs i.e. the parents are back arguing as much as usual. But of course the subconscious mind can always try a flare-up to get its way and of course, this becomes a vicious circle.
The top layer of skin is much thicker in plaque psoriasis.
The bottom level of the epidermis where cells multiply is particularly active (cells are proliferating 28 times faster than normal skin). The blood vessels of the skin expand. There is also increased blood flow in psoriatic skin, necessary to bring nutrients to the rapidly growing skin cells. This combination leads to the redness of the lesions. The dermis is where the inflammation originates. Immune system cells are drawn into the dermis as part of the immune response that takes place in psoriasis and these cells send inflammatory signals to the skin cells. Using hypnotherapy with psoriasis we aim to change the faulty signals that are sent to the immune system.
Psoriasis Case Histories
This client had Plaque Psoriasis for 22 Years. The top two pictures were taken at the start of the hypnotherapy for psoriasis, the middle pictures were taken at the end of treatment after 8 weeks of hypnotherapy and the bottom pictures were taken after a 1 year follow up. The treatment included Hypno-analysis, Self-hypnosis, suggestion therapy and NLP techniques.
Alison – age 44
She developed Plaque Psoriasis on her elbows, knees and ankles at the age of 39. She has tried steroid creams and UV treatment neither worked. At the time of starting treatment with me she was just using E45 cream.
Alison developed Psoriasis immediately after her father’s death. He died suddenly of a heart attack. She was on holiday at the time and was unable to return for the funeral. She consequently had many guilt issues regarding her father. Under hypnosis, she achieved closure and said goodbye to her father. Her self-esteem was severely knocked. We did some ego strengthening and confidence building within hypnosis. Her Psoriasis did not respond immediately, it took 7 weeks before she saw an improvement although she only attended 4 sessions with me. After 12 weeks she was clear and five years later she is still clear.
Simon – age 27
Simon had Plaque and Guttate Psoriasis over 45% of his body. He had tried steroid creams, Chinese herbal and acupuncture. He has also tried UV treatment which was mildly effective.
During hypno-analysis he was regressed back to when he was 8, at which time he was bullied at school quite severely. It was immediately after this that his Psoriasis started. His father being an ex-Colonel gave him very little support and he was told to grow up and stop complaining about it. His mother was an alcoholic and consequently, he received little or no medical attention for the first three months. It wasn’t until a teacher brought it to the attention of medical staff that he was treated. The lack of support and help from his family made him feel alone and unlovable. We then went through some gestalt therapy and he integrated childhood traumas with his adult thinking. We went on to do some quite extensive suggestion therapy and later on some NLP reframing. After the third session, Simon’s Psoriasis was drastically reducing and by the fifth week was almost completely clear. We finally did some self-hypnosis and timeline work and now 4 months later he is completely clear still. He still listens to his self-hypnosis CD once a week. He has never been completely clear of Psoriasis before and he is taking no drugs or any other treatment for his Psoriasis. He has had a complete transformation and is very happy.