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Whether our skin blushes when we hear a compliment or trembles when we feel caress, in any case, it expresses what we cannot say in words. It has its own complex language, which today is only beginning to be deciphered.
Heat, cold, pain, tenderness – the skin feels it all, absorbs it, captures it. And then immediately transmits the appropriate message to our brain. But of all kinds of information, she prefers affection … Five million sensory cells on two square meters of skin that separate us from the outside world are the strongest receptor for sensations. American researcher Aschley Montagu, one of the pioneers in studying the effect of the skin on our sensations, states bluntly: “The skin is the most important organ of the human body … Every sensation corresponds to some fundamental human message.” And of course, the most important of these messages is love.
Love is born from touch
Jacqueline Nadel, a researcher in the psychobiological laboratory of the Paris Sorbonne, is sure: “Love is born from touch.” This is well felt by babies who all the time want to be held and caressed. That is why doctors recommend giving them massage. Experiments have shown that massage reduces the period of hospitalization of premature babies, improves their motor coordination and their level of attention to surrounding objects. In full-term babies, a relaxing massage promotes better sleep. Adults can use massage for their own pleasure. Some sexologists advise couples in crisis to take special time to massage and stroke each other: the fact is that touch is a mode of contact in which there is neither dominant nor dominated.
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- Accept your body
Stage “I-skin”
The skin receives and transmits the message. The skin vibrates and lives. Skin reflects our emotions. Psychoanalyst Didier Anzieu, who wrote the book Le Moi-Peau in 1974, after which psychoanalysis began to use the achievements of dermatology, is convinced of this. Its main idea: personality begins to take shape after a person realizes the existence of his skin, a kind of border separating us from the rest of space. Indeed, our idea of ourselves takes shape – in the most literal sense of the word – when there is contact between the skin of an infant and the skin of his mother: this is the notorious “I-skin”, a stage of development that allows the child to move on to the next stages of his mental evolution. and then to the formation of sexuality.
Then, at any age, the skin will reflect the ups and downs of our inner life: the face will turn red with rage, turn pale with fear, shine with happiness, or take on a permanent grayish tint as a sign of a depressive state.
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- Know your skin better
Mental wounds, stigmata on the skin
Today it is clear that the manifestations of psoriasis, herpes, eczema or acne are exacerbated by stress and irritation. But the dermatologist and psychoanalyst at St. Louis in Paris, Dr. Daniel Pomey-Rey, does not stop there. In her opinion, 80% of skin diseases are of psychological origin: “Those who are sick with such diseases, of course, want to talk about a lot, but they can’t do it. And then his skin speaks for him. It seems like our skin has its own language, whose task is to express all the unspoken that is in our lives. The reason for this interaction between the brain and the skin is very simple: they are connected at the embryological level, they form at the same time, on the 21st day of the development of the embryo.
From that moment on, information constantly circulates between the brain and the skin … Stress? Emotion? The nervous system converts this information using a biochemical language, through neurotransmitters. These latter act on the skin and can cause or cure skin disease. Thus, each of us can develop allergies or hair loss as a result of affective shock. Most often, treatment in this case ends successfully. But the opposite also happens. It all depends on the level of stress.
The existence of connections between the skin and the brain justifies the existence of psychodermatology, the joint work of a psychiatrist and a dermatologist seeking to cure severe or disabling skin diseases. Lie down on a psychoanalyst’s couch to get rid of acne? “No, with a patient who comes because of a skin problem, it is better to work face to face and take into account the specifics of his problem,” explains Daniel Pomi-Rey. She explains that psoriasis treatment deals with repressed anger, with eczema you need to talk about fears, hair loss is usually associated with some other loss, and acne can be a visible manifestation of mourning. Simultaneously with psychotherapy sessions, mild antidepressants may be prescribed. And the results will not be slow to affect: the skin will gradually begin to improve, and the patient’s perception of himself is corrected.
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- Breathe in skin
brain messages
We are only at the very beginning of a journey leading to the study of the amazing connections between the skin and the brain. Now research is concentrated within one discipline: neuro-endocrine-psychodermatology. Recent work has also shown the importance of the effect of odors on the immune system of the skin: an allergic skin reaction can be cured by simply inhaling incense. Another study shows that rehydrating the skin in older people increases skin sensitivity.
These areas of research are particularly exciting, as they can have a variety of impacts on our daily lives. Dermatology educator and skin-brain expert Laurent Misery reminds us that it seems that neurotransmitters—chemical messengers that circulate between the skin and nervous system—may affect both tissue thickness and the formation of collagen and sebum. , on skin pigmentation and its immune response. As a result, it is very likely that soon our cosmetic creams will not only affect the surface of the skin, but will penetrate into the depths, directly affect the source of the problem, stimulating the right neurotransmitters. There are already creams on the market that use the latest scientific achievements (soothing Hydrazen, Lancôme, anti-aging Protient-Lift, RoC, and slimming Lipofactor, Sanofi), but you can be sure that tomorrow there will be many more such creams.
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- Biorhythms of our skin: how and when to take care of it?
Cosmetics or tattoo?
The skin is not limited to its role as a messenger of our inner life. It is also a form of social language. Cosmetics, tattoos or piercings are peculiar ways of communicating with the rest of the world, expressing one’s need for integration into society, a desire to be different from others or a rebellious spirit. Even a tan has its own meaning, as it speaks of a certain way of life.
The skin can also speak religious language. In the gospel, any diseased skin attracted attention, as it was considered a sign of guilt or God’s punishment. The skin, a symbol of our human nature, often had to hide in the face of a deity. It also happened that a sign was applied to it, which was a sign of a certain faith. You can mention the tonsure of priests or circumcision among the Jews. The skin is an image of both the hidden and the explicit identity of a person and is increasingly perceived as a carrier of memories, on which our life leaves an indelible imprint over time.