Jungian psychologist Ann Maguire talks about how our skin shows us the way out of conflict with the inner world.
1. In a healthy state, the skin is a stable and balanced organ.not disturbing. She exudes peace and serenity. This deceptive property of the skin inspires the idea of its unshakable constancy. When the skin is healthy, it is quiet, uncomplaining and does not require any care other than daily hygiene. We can say that it resembles a well-mannered domestic cat that does not cause any trouble to its owner. It is for this reason that most people do not attach due importance to their skin.
But when getting sick, the skin becomes like a furious cat, which until recently purred softly and rubbed against the leg … In other words, when getting sick, the skin declares itself in the most tangible way.
2. The memory of the events of life does not disappear without a trace, and everything ever experienced continues to exist. Jung suggested that experiences that seem to have evaporated are stored in an area of the psyche adjacent to the ego, which he called the personal unconscious.
Skin diseases signal fears, anxieties, repressed emotions and indicate the presence of unconscious complexes.
The personal unconscious contains mental contents and processes, for some reason rejected by the individual and forced out of consciousness by him. These are disturbing thoughts, intrapersonal conflicts, moral problems, or unacceptable emotions. The same fate may also await the contents, once realized, but forgotten, because at the moment they do not seem to be significant.
As a result, all products of mental activity that do not have sufficient energy to stay in consciousness are sent to the personal unconscious.
3. Among all bodily organs, the skin is the main indicator of a person’s mental state. She is a kind of mirror in which any mental disorder is reflected. Many diseases that affect the skin, both fleeting and chronic, carry unique information that allows a deeper understanding of the processes occurring in the psyche … These diseases signal fears, anxieties, repressed emotions and indicate the presence of unconscious complexes.
4. A person in a state of neurosis can be compared to an enchanted fairy-tale character. People who are in the grip of a neurosis suffer from internal conflict. They are forced to act against their will under the pressure of the unconscious.
A schoolboy developed an allergy to the leather insoles of school shoes, which then developed into a terrible eczema of the feet (and the feet are in close contact with the outside world). In such a hypersensitive way, the boy reacted to chromium, which is used to treat the skin. Some time later, it turned out that the allergic reaction coincided with his transition to the next class, where he suffered from the tyranny of the teacher.
A middle-aged woman had an allergic reaction to expensive perfume the first day she wore it. A little later, she compared the facts and realized that this perfume was given to her by her beloved man six months ago. They were his parting gift, on that day he left her in the most unworthy way. And now the woman’s skin rejected his gift, because she herself could not come to terms with his act.
The shedding of the skin is a symbol of psychic adaptation and transformation, as well as the evolution of the soul.
Another woman used to work for a prestigious fashion company, but due to unfortunate circumstances she was forced to work as a cashier in a bar located in the city center. Every day she served boring, life-weary customers, longingly waiting for the end of the working day. When her hands became covered with eczema, it was discovered that she was allergic to nickel, a metal found in coins that her hands constantly had to deal with. The skin on the hands of this woman rejected the job of a cashier, because she herself did not realize the stubbornness with which her psyche resisted her current opportunities and income.
The eczematous process, starting with the appearance of primary vesicles, is a miniature volcanic eruption. On the scale of the human body, it has an impact equivalent to an event of planetary significance, in which gases and red-hot magma are released from the bowels of the earth. Based on this analogy, it is reasonable to consider eczema as an eruption of previously suppressed mental stress.
5. The psyche is not static, it is constantly evolving. If you do not get rid of outdated ideas and irrelevant ways of adaptation, this threatens with energy stagnation and even death.
The shedding of the skin is a symbol of psychic adaptation and transformation, as well as the evolution of the soul. It is impossible not to pay attention to the similarity of a person suffering from psoriasis with a snake, trying to get rid of the dead and become tight shell. If the snake fails to shed its skin, it will die. Similarly, the skin affected by psoriasis indicates unsuccessful mental adaptation.
Probably, some content of the psyche, a complex or an archetype, prevented the free flow of libido energy, which led to stagnation of psychic energy and regression. On a superficial psychological examination, it can be assumed that a person did not take an important step in time due to laziness, negligence or fear, or because he did not know at all about the need to take this step. At a deep level, the disease could have arisen due to the fact that some intellectual, emotional, sexual or spiritual aspects of life remained unused, deadened during life.
Based on E. Maguire’s book «Skin Diseases — Messages from the Soul» (Sofia, 2012)