Emotional Effects Of Acne

Acne is not just a medical condition. Aside from the medical symptoms of scars and inflammation, patients also have to deal with the emotional effects of acne.

Although much time and money is devoted to studying treatments for acne, little attention has been focused on this equally damaging aspect of the condition. This may be because the emotional effects of acne are sometimes taken lightly or disregarded as mere oversensitivity” and vanity. Although acne does not have any major health impact on a person, the emotional effects of acne are serious and can debilitate as well as have a major impact on the self-image of a person. For many acne patients, regular social interactions that non-acne patients take for granted are difficult. A job interview, a date or simply going out of the house can be reasons for stress for people suffering from acne. This can lead to an inferiority complex and self consciousness that persists even after the acne has been successfully treated.

Studies have shown that people (no matter their gender, age or social status) suffering from acne often describe their attitudes towards themselves as “ugly” and “dirty”. Feelings that in turn make them feel angry and depressed. The emotional effects of acne are especially stronger in adolescence when may types of the condition begin to emerge. Adolescence is a period when people are forming their self image and when the need to fit in lists high among their priorities. This difficult period, coupled with acne can make adolescence almost unbearable for some patients.

Studies have also shown that people suffering from acne sometimes feel anger towards their parents and are more prone to withdraw from society. Patients’ testimonials have described how they dread looking in the mirror because of their acne. Adults who develop acne in their later years however are not vulnerable to the feelings of insecurity that accompanies the condition. As early as 1948, the psychologists Sulzberger and Zaidems summed up the emotional effects of acne with this statement: There is no single condition which causes more psychic trauma, more maladjustment between parent and children, more general insecurity and feelings of inferiority and greater sums of psychic suffering than does acne vulgaris. Even with new medical treatments for the condition, Sulzberger and Zaidems’ statement still rings true today.