I was recently asked to talk about psoriasis – there are many sufferers and not very many satisfactory cures to this annoying and sometimes embarrassing skin problem.
We need to first understand, that with all skin problems, the body is trying to eliminate toxins from the body, so hindering this process through suppressive creams will have a detrimental effect on your health, by retaining those toxins (see my article Dying for Clear Skin).
So why do people get it in the first place and how can homeopathy help? The characteristics of psoriasis is that the skin over-produces keratin (the upper-most layer of skin), creating plaques, underneath which there is very exposed, sore skin.
Our symptoms, when regarded holistically, reflect an un-expressed mental or emotional state. It tells us that sufferers are trying to create armour against outside world to protect their vulnerability. That’s all well and good, but this mental stance deadens all emotional impressions (similarly with anti-depressants), so in the long term does not serve them.
I had a case a few years ago of a teenage girl, 16 who had suddenly developed psoriasis all over her arms. The reason for this became obvious in the consultation, which was that she was getting upset with the attitude of her father. Her parents had divorced when she was 8 and he did not seem as interested in maintaining regular contact with her more recently. This was compounded by the fact that her father had a new family. Her stance was that of : “I’m not going to show that I’m bothered, so I won’t explain how I feel, I’ll just suffer in silence”. This repression of emotion, together with a pretending that she was ok had resulted in her skin outbreak. It was as if her body was saying “if you don’t show you are hurt, then I will!”. Luckily, after one dose of her constitutional remedy, she felt more able to have a heart to heart talk with her father and mother explaining her feelings about the situation. It (as it always does) turned out to be a misunderstanding, whereby the parents had been to busy on other things to realise the impact of their actions on their child. The paradox of the situation is that when we don’t show how we feel, others cannot respond and remedy the situation. Needless to say, once the teenager had reconnected with her feelings and her parents, her skin got better.
If you are a sufferer ask yourself the question “how do I feel when people offer sympathy to me?” Often the answer is that there is resistance to this, because it makes you feel that you are weaker, less in control and to be pitied. This is confirmation that you do not allow yourself to be vulnerable because of your inbuilt survival strategy.
My experience of treating psoriasis is that younger sufferers respond quickly to homeopathy. If the patients, however, have had it for a long time, many homeopaths have found this condition more difficult to bring to a resolution. I therefore find using The Mace Energy Method (I am a fully trained consultant) and recommending various simple detoxification regimes that can help resolve the psoriasis. One more difficult ‘maintaining cause’, however, is dental work: amalgam fillings and root canal treatments become a constant source of toxins, so this is another issue that sufferers must consider.
If you would like me to discuss any particular condition, please do contact me.
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