Mindful Awareness
To truly heal, you need to understand why you became unwell in the first place. In many cases, the root cause of an illness can be traced back to the mind or emotions. Perhaps you are too nice of a person and let people walk all over you? Maybe you belief you are not worthy of being loved? Or could it be some old forgotten trauma from childhood that is keeping you ill?
Healthy skin has a developmental cycle of around 28 days. Normally a young keratinocyte gradually changes and matures as it moves through the different layers of the epidermis.
In psoriasis this cycle is dramatically accelerated to just 4 or 5 days, so the maturation process is incomplete. The cells reach the surface before they are fully ready. The result is the thickened skin and characteristic silvery-white scale we associate with psoriasis.
The accelerated skin cycle presents an interesting mind/body question. If the cells are being hurried through their development before they have had time to mature, could there sometimes be some kind of underlying rushed or hurried mindset?
The American psychologist Ted A. Grossbart, PhD, author of Skin Deep: A Mind/Body Program for Healthy Skin thinks there might be.
“Fast, Fast, Fast”
Professor Grossbart noticed that people with psoriasis who seemed to live at an extraordinary pace. His memorable description is “Fast, fast, fast.” They were often capable, intelligent and energetic people, but Grossbart felt that some were living not simply in high gear but in something closer to overdrive. They were continually working, achieving, organising, travelling or remaining busy. Although their individual histories were very different, there seemed to be a common difficulty with slowing down.
Grossbart then makes the fascinating connection with the skin itself. Psoriatic cells are also moving too quickly. They arrive at the surface without having had enough time to complete normal maturation, while the rapid production of new cells contributes to the continual accumulation and shedding of scale. Grossbart wondered whether the skin could, in some patients, be doing something remarkably similar to what the person was doing psychologically.
What Happens When We Slow Down?
Grossbart's deeper question was not simply whether a person should become less busy. He wanted to know why the person needed to keep moving. Sometimes constant activity protects us from something uncomfortable that becomes more noticeable when life becomes quiet. It may be anxiety, uncertainty, vulnerability, anger, grief or a need to remain in control.
