Acne can and often has many psychological side effects. One tends to relate these effects with the intensity of acne but it is not necessarily so. Many psychologists treat patients who suffer from mild to severe cases of acne. The consequences of acne can greatly depend on how a person deals with acne. If a person even with a mild case of acne sees himself/herself as being outcast by the disease he/she will suffer great emotional and psychological effects. Although acne is prominent in the teenage years, it can affect people of all ages and as such the consequences of acne will greatly depend on where psychologically a person is in his life when he/she has to deal with acne.

A new condition or if you prefer disorder was identified: the Psychodermatologic disorder. It is a disorder that concerns itself with the mind/skin relationship. Really we are talking the mind/body rapport.

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Is it true that stress causes acne, because generalized anxiety disorder definitely causes stress (and a lot of it). But I was wondering: how much of my acne does that account for?

An interesting thing is that the psychological condition of body dysmorphic disorder is very often triggered by cystic acne. This is a condition where people feel that they are extremely hideous despite the fact that they are normal looking. Cystic acne often acts as a catalyst in this disorder from what I have seen and read about it.  Just like anorexia is often triggered by an individual being initially overweight, BDD is triggered by things like acne (or also common is a large nose).  It causes a lot of emotional stress and this is very unfortunate that it is this way.  

Then I am always asked the question “do people really react differently to you because you have cystic acne?  Do you look at people and say: they have acne and won’t be their friend?” Well, not exactly.  Someone with bad acne can be less attractive.  Of course that is not what anyone wants to hear and it sounds very superficial, but that is what I have encountered as the truth. It’s such a bizarre thing because people’s attitudes are often what make them attractive or unattractive and of course the cystic acne has a high potential of affecting one’s attitude.  

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