Eczema: How hypnosis helps
Eczema can be incredibly annoying in your daily life. It can pull and itch and this can reduce your ability to concentrate considerably. So it is not at all a convenient condition if you have difficult work whether physically (because of the pulling) or mentally (because of the itching). Hypnosis can help you suffer less. In this blog I take a closer look at eczema and how hypnosis can play a supporting role
What is eczema?
Eczema is a skin condition that causes your skin to be very dry and can crack. Your skin is also often red, there may be blisters on it and it sometimes itches terribly. You have several types of eczema, the most well-known being atopic eczema.
Eczema can have multiple causes, such as:
Eczema often reacts to the environment, but it can also run in the family.
Eczema can occur at any age. Many children up to age 5 suffer from eczema.
Eczema often has a flare-up and then you're not bothered by it again for quite a while.
Eczema complaints
So when you suffer from eczema, you often have red, scaly skin that is incredibly dry and can be very itchy.
Eczema can also cause you to have secondary symptoms, such as insecurity about your body and therefore being less good at socializing.
Other secondary complaints include skin infections as the skin's protective barrier is damaged by eczema and eye complaints.
Eczema treatment
With eczema, the first thing to do is not to scratch when itching. This is to leave skin function as intact as possible, since it is already no longer great in the areas where you suffer from eczema.
In general, eczema is treated with special ointments that properly moisturize the skin and restore its protective function as best as possible. In addition, light therapy can also help make eczema spots smaller.
In addition, prevention is very important. So having an air filter in the home is important when airborne substances trigger eczema.
Modifying diet is also important so that food does not trigger eczema.
In addition, helps:
- Taking lukewarm baths or showers.
- Wearing airy clothing, such as cotton and/or linen.
- Using mild soap.
- Dabbing the skin with a towel instead of wiping.
- Avoiding rapid temperature changes (no sauna if you have eczema)
- Keeping nails short to avoid scratching.
- Using a humidifier during dry or cold weather[1].
Hypnosis and reducing eczema
Hypnosis can help with eczema in multiple ways, such as for reducing scratching, reducing itching and reducing stress.
Hypnosis and reducing crabs
As early as the 1950s, hypnosis was used against eczema. Back then, 7 treatments were enough to make eczema disappear almost completely. The study[2] also shows images showing that the eczema on the client's hands actually diminishes and even disappears.
This client was very troubled by his eczema and found it difficult to stop scratching. His mood was also not positive.
The suggestions used at the time to treat eczema under hypnosis were:
"You won't have skin irritation. You will not be able to scratch yourself and the lust to scratch yourself will also disappear. You will feel good and powerful. You will be free from every fear and shame related to your skin."
In the long run, this improvement persisted and the man only visited once every 3 months thereafter to keep it that way.
At the time, these suggestions were also used with children, with some modifications to better fit the child's experience. According to the mother, after some time he could play in the garden for hours without scratching himself.
Note! This was in the 1950s. We are now 70 years into hypnosis development and this was possible back then.
Hypnosis and reducing itching
In the late 1950s, hypnosis was also used to reduce itching when you suffered from itching. For example, a woman who had suffered from eczema for more than 15 years had to press her fingers, such as her thumb and index finger, together until they began to tingle and become numb.
Then she had to press those fingers on the spot where she was suffering from itching and her fingers would give a coolness and numbness that would reduce her irritation.
In doing so, she was also given the post-hypnotic suggestion to perform it at home whenever she needed it.
All of this was communicated while she was under hypnosis. As a result, the suggestions penetrate more deeply into people’s minds, causing them to view them more quickly as “truth” and as something that truly works. It becomes a belief.
Within 3 weeks, she experienced much less eczema[3].
Hypnosis for reducing eczema caused by stress
As mentioned above, simply avoiding scratching and reducing itching can help clear up eczema. In the 1990s, a larger study was also conducted on children with eczema. This study[4] showed that girls who received hypnotherapy combined with relaxation exercises experienced significantly less eczema than the children who did not receive it.
This may be due to the fact that relaxation causes you to suffer less stress.
Hypnosis can help you, for example, with a guided visualization in which you relax wonderfully and visualize how your body is doing all it can to take good care of your body, minimizing eczema.
Such visualizations often include asking if you can assign a meaning to colors. For example, light blue is refreshing and gray represents irritation. During such a visualization you visualize (under the guidance of the hypnosis expert), for example, that your body is surrounded by light blue liquid that flushes the gray irritation from your body, allowing you to relax wonderfully and no longer suffer from itching.
These types of visualizations can then also be provided to you on mp3 so you can benefit from the relaxation exercises at home.
Changing beliefs that cause stress
You may also have beliefs that cause stress. These can be irrational fears or stressful patterns you’ve developed over the course of your life. To identify and break these kinds of patterns, you can use regression therapy through hypnosis.
For example, moments when you are not doing something you want to do can be so stressful. With regression, you then go to the moment when you first blocked and didn't do what you really wanted to do. Then you do something with that moment that releases that blockage and breaks your pattern that is causing stress.
Another way to change beliefs that cause stress is to counter them with a hypnotic suggestion. For example, if you develop eczema from working too hard, suggestions about the importance of prioritizing yourself can make that belief more important than the belief that keeps you working (instead of going home and relaxing, which is what you actually want to do).
You repeat these suggestions out loud while under hypnosis. Because you then do this under hypnosis, they penetrate you more deeply and can actually become stronger in your subconscious than the beliefs that create stress, thus reducing stress. For example, these can be suggestions such as:
"I choose myself."
"I'm good."
"I'm social."
"I can do anything."
These are just examples. Depending on the beliefs that stress you out, you may be given other suggestions.
These suggestions and guided visualizations can also be included on mp3 so you can listen to them at home and apply self-hypnosis. This can greatly enhance the effects on stress reduction, reducing itching and scratching. Allowing you to suffer less from your eczema.
Would you like to learn more about how hypnosis works and whether you can help people with hypnosis? Then come to a hypnosis workshop (now also in Zwolle).
Just need to learn more and get started right away? Then check out our events or enroll directly in one of Hypnosis Institute Netherlands' training courses. Ask about online options if that suits you better.
[1] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/14417.php
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1978855/pdf/brmedj03193-0006.pdf
[3] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00029157.1962.10402281?journalCode=ujhy20
[4] https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1994-18803-001