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Originally Posted by Spotter_03
So that means that this rash is all in my head?
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Actually, yes - there has been scientific proof that psychosomatic skin conditions do in fact exist.
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/enc...ensitivity.htm
One is called Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. In fact, there is something called "
Sick Building Syndrome" that causes people to get sick with no explanation.
Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), also known
as "20th Century Syndrome", "Environmental illness", "Quick Facts about
: Sick Building Syndrome
Quick Summary not found for this subjectSick Building Syndrome", Idiopathic Environmental Intolerance (IEI), and a host of other names, can be defined as a "chronic, recurring disease caused by a person's inability to tolerate an environmental chemical or class of foreign chemicals" according to the NIH National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences web site.
MCS is a non-standard medical diagnosis for people with unexplained allergy-like symptoms who believe that traces of several modern industrial or household chemicals are responsible. Conventional medicine does not recognize this diagnosis, because there is no definitive test, no plausible scientific mechanism, no reliable studies have demonstrated its claims, and because the symptoms are explainable by other means such as more conventional allergies, infectious disease, or psychological reaction to stress. There isn't even a meaningful description of the disease, making diagnosis practically impossible. Typically, people who show vague symptoms which resemble allergic reactions are diagnosed with it.
There is evidence that MCS is a purely psychosomatic disease. In tests of dozens of people who where diagnosed (by alternative health practitioners) as having MCS, none of them showed any reaction to suspected substances when exposed to them without their knowledge, though they did show allergic reactions when they knew they were being exposed. They also showed allergic reactions to injections of (biologically inert) saline solution or exposure to purified air when they were falsely told they were being exposed to suspect substances. In short, there was no correlation between actual exposure and reaction, only between perceived exposure and reaction.
It should be noted that illnesses such as Quick Facts about
: asthma
Respiratory disorder characterized by wheezing; usually of allergic originasthma and (normal) allergies where also once considered to be psychosomatic. The difference between MCS and these others however is that symptoms of MCS vary wildly and are not repeatable in blind tests.
asthma is another big one, many feel that over 90% of human illness is psychosomatic.
yes, people can have psychosomatic rash, or even make the rash itself worse than it really is.
http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/27000225/
To an extent, most diseases are 'psychosomatic' - involving both mind and body.
* There is a mental aspect to every physical disease. How we react to and cope with disease varies greatly from person to person. For example, the rash of psoriasis may not bother some people very much. But, the rash covering the same parts of the body in someone else may make them feel depressed and more 'ill'.
* There can be physical effects from mental illness. For example, with some mental illnesses you may not eat or take care of yourself very well which can cause physical problems.
However, the term psychosomatic disorder is mainly used to mean "a physical disease which is thought to be caused, or made worse, by mental factors". Some physical diseases are thought to be particularly prone to be made worse by mental factors such as stress and anxiety. For example, psoriasis, eczema, stomach ulcers, high blood pressure, and heart disease. It is thought that the actual physical part of the illness, (the extent of a rash, the level of the blood pressure, etc) can be affected by mental factors. This is difficult to prove. However, many people with these, and other physical diseases, say that their current mental state can affect how bad their physical disease is at any given time.
Some people also use the term psychosomatic disorder when mental factors cause physical symptoms, but where there is no physical disease. For example, a chest pain may be caused by stress, and no physical disease is can be found. Physical symptoms caused by mental factors are discussed further in a another leaflet called 'Somatization and Somatoform Disorders'.