Getting to the Emotional Aspects of Eczema

Eczema has been one of my most important teachers in life, it might be yours too.

I first encountered eczema as a baby. Back then, nobody really questioned the root cause of things. The standard procedure was to do as the doctor said and use pharmaceuticals.

How times have changed!

Personally, I question everything and I am always interested to know the root cause of any physical dis-ease. What I’ve found, from both my own journey and from working with clients in my Naturopathy clinic, is that the underlying cause is typically an emotional one.

Reflecting on my own experience of eczema, I realised that it served as a means for me to express my otherwise unexpressed anger and independence. Each scratch was an act of defiance.

In hindsight, the energetic statement going on in the background of my consciousness was “You can’t control me! I can do what I want to my skin, it’s my body!”

Growing up, this was the only thing I felt I had complete control over, my own body, my own skin. Everything else was totally out of my control and impacting me in multiple unpleasant ways.

If you are reading this article, then I’m guessing you have experienced eczema too.

You’re very familiar with that glorious sensation when you scratch your skin and that orgasmic rush hits you. I call it the ‘scratchers high’.

It’s short lived, and a feeling of remorse soon takes it’s place as you stare back at that reddened, sometimes bleeding or oozing skin that now throbs from your last attack.

Having eczema tends to reflect a complicated relationship with yourself, and those closest to you. It’s that consistent swing between love and hate. You love your skin when it behaves and hate it when it’s bad.

Those two opposing forces consume most of your waking hours. The voices that vie for your attention ‘do it, scratch, you’ll feel so much better’ vs ‘no! Don’t do it, you’ll regret it’. In most cases the former wins.

The skin is a protective layer that covers the entire body and is part of the immune system’s first line of defence, in place to keep any invaders out and protect your insides.

If you have atopic eczema it’s because there’s a genetic (and energetic) component making it more vulnerable to intrusions, like bacteria and dust, that can end up causing inflammation and a merry-go round of itch-scratch-rash cycle.

Your skin barrier is a metaphor for your emotional barrier, so ask yourself, how are your emotional boundaries? How is your emotional resilience? How strong is your sense of self? Are you allowing any invaders (other emotions, opinions, people, events) to affect you in some way?

When we’re emotionally resilient and have a strong sense of self, those emotional barriers are more stable and the outside opinions or situations can no longer trigger an emotional attack.

Metaphysically you may consider, what is in your environment? What is in your thought field? Are the people who you spend most time with supporting or negating who you are? What do you turn to for relief? Food, social media, shopping?

Having eczema means you’re sensitive, not only to topical products but also your energetic and chemical environment. However, getting to the emotional cause of your eczema may begin to turn things around.

Here are 3 ideas to help you uncover why your eczema exists:

Create space each day to relax with a cuppa, tune in with yourself and write down your thoughts. Julia Cameron author of “The Artist’s Way” calls this writing your ‘Morning Pages’.

Take note of the situations where you know you’re not really being who you are. Why might you be feeling this way? What beliefs are you holding on to?

Kinesiology is an excellent tool for shedding light on the emotional root cause of your eczema. Consider booking with a kinesiologist so you can understand how you can heal both your emotions and your eczema.

Do you resonate with what I’ve shared here? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

With love and understanding,

Sarah x x