As summer approaches and many in the UK prepare to spend time outdoors, those who suffer from skin problems like eczema and psoriasis, find themselves in a quandary, hoping to find a ‘cure’ for their ailment.
The news this week that AstraZeneca’s development of a drug to treat psoriasis has stopped after trial patients were found to have suicidal thoughts, will be a further blow to sufferers.
AstraZeneca’s partner in the trial, Amgen, said that it had made its decision to stop ‘based on events of suicidal ideation and behaviour in the programme, which Amgen believes likely would necessitate restrictive labelling’.
Over 125m people worldwide, or one in 50 adults, have psoriasis and famous sufferers include TV star Kim Kardashian, who has been vocal about her struggles with the disease.
Psoriasis patches normally appear on elbows, hands, knees, scalp and lower back but can appear anywhere like under nails. In some cases, the patches can be itchy or sore.
Hypnosis has been found to help skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis and members of the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) have had some success in treating sufferers – by focussing on visualisations of the problem behind the problem, like stress and anxiety.
A hypnotherapist can help assess anxiety, identifying its root cause and then go about setting goals to reduce the anxiety, using a range of different techniques.
Thus hypnotherapy can unlock the potential to break free of negative thought patterns and to react more positively and more confidently to life situations that might lead to anxiety.
NCH member Paul Howard, who conducted studies into hypnotherapy, stress and psoriasis, said as the skin is the largest organ in the body, it is not surprising that any underlying anxiety should manifest itself through the skin.
He found anger at the condition often led to the stress and anxiety and, he added, until the anger was completely released, the client had no chance of becoming calm or relaxed.
In Howard’s study, 8% of his clients achieved a 95% reduction in psoriasis and a further 29% obtained over 50% reduction.
Another summer warning: most people find that sunlight is good for psoriasis but it does not work for everyone, says everydayhealth.com.
Some people have photosensitive psoriasis, a form that flares up when summer sunlight hits it, the website adds. Others have been prescribed medication as part of their psoriasis treatment that makes their skin more sensitive to sunlight.
Even people who do find sunlight to be a good treatment for psoriasis need to be careful about overdoing it. Sunburn can cause psoriasis to flare up. Mild sunburn can make existing psoriasis plaques more uncomfortable and cause new patches to form. Severe sunburn can prompt a full-fledged outbreak of psoriasis across your sunburned skin.
If you suffer from psoriasis and find it stressful or a cause for anxiety, why not contact a hypnotherapist near you by using the NCH directory? It could change your outlook for the better.
