Skin diseases and behavioral problems like picking and hair pulling can grind you
down and leave you feeling there's no way to beat them. You've probably tried all
sorts of conventional medical approaches as well as alternative techniques. The Skin
Deep Program is different and has worked dramatically even for people who have
gotten nowhere with other treatments.
This book is designed to give you helpful information and be an active part of
your healing process. I suggest reading slowly. Let the book stir up thoughts,
memories, and feelings. Thinking about the diagnostic exercises is helpful, actually
doing them is more helpful. The treatment takes real persistence. I routinely tell
people, "If you haven't given up in total frustration three or four times--you are just
getting started."
Some people do the whole program on their own and get dramatic results.
Often working with a therapist is even more effective.
Since the last edition of the book came out, there have been some intriguing
trends in my practice. I still see plenty of people with eczema, warts, psoriasis, hives,
and other skin diseases. But I now spend the majority of my time helping people
with two problems: skin picking and hair pulling. I believe there is a hidden
epidemic and neither medications nor dermatologists have much to offer.
Visit grossbart.com for the most recent information, multimedia interviews,
features, and an updated support group list. The site has a special section on
stopping skin picking and hair pulling.
Having seen how helpful Skin Deep can be, I'm eager to get it out to as many
people as possible. Printed copies of this book are also available from
healthpress.com.
This book is offered under Creative Commons License. That means you
are free to quote it in any form or medium as long as you give credit. I encourage
you to send Skin Deep to anyone you think may benefit from reading it.
I'm available to answer your questions at ted@grossbart.com, or (617) 536-
0480. You may want help finding a therapist with special skills, have reached an
impasse, or just want to let me know how the work is going. I also work by telephone
with many people around the world. Working together, it is quite likely we can get
you the relief you have been hoping for.
Find out more at http://www.grossbart.com
Foreword
Skin Deep: A Mind/Body Program for Healthy Skin is an excellent book that should be
beneficial to physicians treating skin disorders well as to patients having skin
problems. It will be especially useful to those unfortunate persons with chronic skin
disorders.
The authors realize that the psychological techniques they emphasize, and so carefully
outline in their book, are not a panacea but a very useful methodology to be utilized in
conjunction with conventional dermatologic therapy. In fact, the authors rightly stress that any
patient with a dermatitis should first start therapy with a dermatologist. Since the vast
majority of dermatoses have an emotional component, whether as a cause, an aggravating
factor, or a result, patients will find this book of exceptional value in obtaining an insight into
their condition.
The mind and body function as a unit in both health and disease. Since they cannot be
separated into distinct entities, to treat one and not the other is often fraught with failure. A
combined therapeutic approach is frequently needed for complete relief from many chronic
skin disorders. Skin Deep will assist patients in obtaining an understanding of the various
techniques and effectiveness of psychotherapy in skin disorders.
Is it wrong to consider any somatic disorder merely somatic or any psychic condition
totally psychic? The psychosomatic and somatopsychic cycles are active in the origins of many
skin disorders. Treatment should be directed not only at the skin but at the whole patient –
body and mind. A person cannot be divided into organic and psychic components for separate
therapy. Certain cutaneous diseases should be objectively treated as dynamic, constantly
fluctuating adaptions to the stresses and strains to which the patient is exposed both
externally and internally.
In treating dermatologic patients worldwide, I have encountered emotional tension as
the key etiological factor not only in patients with highly technical, stressful occupations in
large American and European cities, but in multimillionaire Arab patients I observed in the
vast deserts of Saudi Arabia and also in Dayak headhunters whom I treated in the jungles of
Borneo. No one is immune to emotional stress. One's skin is frequently utilized, either
consciously or subconsciously, as an outlet for relieving tension.
Psychotherapy is an effective method of treatment in the hands of qualified therapists for
dermatologic conditions of functional or organic origin. The introduction of psychological
thinking into the treatment of dermatologic and allergic disorders enables therapists to attain
results far beyond those obtainable by organic therapy alone. However, major psychiatric
problems require the assistance of psychologists or psychiatrists.
It is a pleasure to recommend Skin Deep: A Mind/Body Program for Healthy Skin not
only to practicing physicians but especially to the innumerable people suffering from chronic
skin disorders.
- Michael J. Scott, M.D.
Find out more at http://www.grossbart.com