Acne, a partial cause to anxiety?

[Errordotocx]

I've always suffered from severe to mild acne since I was 15. I used to get all kinds of treatments, medicine, TV products...i've nearly tried it all and the shit is stubborn. It doesn't want to go away. Now while it's no where at all nearly as bad as it used to be...and I mean no where, I can relax some. But the problem is, some of it still remains and it likes to **** with me on and off and it's still annoying. I of course still have scars from some of the bad stuff but they are going away as well. But to get to the point. I think that my acne was and is still somewhat part of my cause for any type or anxiety I had or still have. It's stuck in my mind that I find it hard for anyone to socialize with me because of it and I especially find it hard for any girl at all to like me because of it. While this may not exactly true, it's hard for me to firmly not believe in it. If it would just disappear all of a sudden, I would be one of happiest people in the world...honest to god...seriously. I believe it stops and hinders me so much...so...so....so much from what I want to do. Once the acne drops off I can honestly say that a good portion of my anxiety will disappear. Just because it carrys so much in itself.

I really haven't heard of many around here that have problems with it and i'm honestly really glad most of you don't. It's just another thing to keep you down...and for this you have absolutely no control over it. But can anyone that has/have relate? Do you think you would change if it went away?

 

[Ericisme]

I'll admit acne makes it a little worse.

 

[Ehsan]

no, at least for me it wasn't related to SP
i had severe cystic acne for several years. it was really annoying.
best medication for me was doxycycline which is a strong antibiotic and has some side effects too. i got rid of acne after being 2 months on it.
although acne has several different types and they have different treatment.

 

[Errordotocx]

no, at least for me it wasn't related to SP
i had severe cystic acne for several years. it was really annoying.
best medication for me was doxycycline which is a strong antibiotic and has some side effects too. i got rid of acne after being 2 months on it.
although acne has several different types and they have different treatment.

I believe I had what you had. I don't know what mine would be classified as now. But i'm actually surprised it didn't have any affect on you. Maybe I just took it different than most. I used to get shit from everyone as well about it.

 

[j_brown2]

I thought it's related to anxiety too coz I had a little bit of it always and since Iam getting over my SA slowly it has gone. Like I said it was just a lil bit. It made me stress about it though at times so I can imagine how it must suck havin a lot of it

 

[Errordotocx]

From what I understand, stress causes acne as well. So this is why I think it's related in some way.

Stress > Acne > Anxiety...repeat.

So basically the way I see it is...back in school I got stressed a lot because of school, shyness, friends...etc. Also, my mom had acne worse than mine when she was a kid so I believe it is somewhat related. But basically I get stressed, along with other things and I have like a double hit of stress which causes Acne on two different levels which lead to being anxious about it. Which brought on comments about it which caused more and I became further stressed which brought on more witched caused more anxiety.

Maybe i'm totally wrong. But the way I see it is a cycle, all three are bad and one as to break somewhere for the other two to let go and disappear. I believe if my acne let up I really really would be less anxious and a hell of a lot less stressed.

 

[Richey]

One thing i have learned is that people simply dont care if you have acne or not even if you are teased about it its not something people will judge you on for an extended period, meaning its not a noticeable trait that is bothersome in any way. Its just that the person with the acne makes a huge deal out of it...

it will go away and its very normal, people notice the person more so then the acne anyway.

 

[Errordotocx]

One thing i have learned is that people simply dont care if you have acne or not even if you are teased about it its not something people will judge you on for an extended period, meaning its not a noticeable trait that is bothersome in any way. Its just that the person with the acne makes a huge deal out of it...

it will go away and its very normal, people notice the person more so then the acne anyway.

Yeah I know it will go away. I've been told around the age of 23 it tends to disappear for most guys. I'm turning 22 in four days so I hope the countdown will begin. I also understand what you are saying about it must not be a problem for others because i've always wondered how my friends continue to look me in the eye and talk with me...as well as when I mention my acne to them if i'm having a bad day or something they usually say they have no idea what i'm talking about. It's just hard for me to see since I deal with it every single day, it's hard for me to clear my mind of it and it's engraved into my thought process that it really does affect the way people treat me...I mean I really do. Maybe this isn't true for the most part...or isn't true at all. But I mean after having it for 6 years it becomes part of your every day life.

[EDIT]
Also, Ehsan. This doxycycline you talk about sounds like a miracle drug. Two months and it was gone? Jesus h christ... what I would give to get it...the only problem is that I don't have the bad acne anymore. So I don't know if it would work?

 

[Ehsan]

I believe I had what you had. I don't know what mine would be classified as now. But i'm actually surprised it didn't have any affect on you. Maybe I just took it different than most. I used to get shit from everyone as well about it.

as i said before, acne has different types. some types of it are totally bacterial which don't relate to anxiety at all and some types are only fatty acne.
in my country many of boys have it around 15 so it wasn't important for me. however it was really annoying and even painful for me.

 

[lurknomore]

I think in my case it may have been a contributor to my initially getting SP- I had really bad acne starting when I was like 10 or 11- and I was teased (funnily enough it was more at home by my younger sisters and not so much at school) and it persisted into my early 20s (I'm now 30). I'm not completely pimple free, but it is now very minor. So, it's not an issue right now, but I know I was pretty self-conscious about it when I was younger. And it seems to run in my family- I know my uncle was still having outbreaks maybe even into his 30s, and most of my sisters have struggled with it as well- my youngest sister (17) still is and is trying all sorts of treatments that don't seem to be doing much. Anyway, I do think maybe it was a partial cause to my anxiety initially, now there are other factors, or it is just too ingrained now for me to easily change.

 

[SickJoke]

Anything can be a partial cause to anxiety, it all depends on how you look at it.

If you rock your acne with the attitude, "This makes me look sexier," or, more reasonably "It doesn't matter, I don't care about it" then it won't be an issue. It's all in how you look at it.

 

[Errordotocx]

Anything can be a partial cause to anxiety, it all depends on how you look at it.

If you rock your acne with the attitude, "This makes me look sexier," or, more reasonably "It doesn't matter, I don't care about it" then it won't be an issue. It's all in how you look at it.

I can't disagree. The past six months or so i've finally come to the point of just saying I DGAF (Dont give a ****). For the most part if just think to myself that if people don't like me for the person I am then **** 'em. Of course that doesn't mean I treat them bad, it just puts me into the mind set of being less irrational about things. Although, it just still bothers me that it's still there. I dunno, maybe i'll just have to learn to accept it and theres no quick change.

 

[SickJoke]

I can't disagree. The past six months or so i've finally come to the point of just saying I DGAF (Dont give a ****). For the most part if just think to myself that if people don't like me for the person I am then **** 'em. Of course that doesn't mean I treat them bad, it just puts me into the mind set of being less irrational about things. Although, it just still bothers me that it's still there. I dunno, maybe i'll just have to learn to accept it and theres no quick change.

I like that attitude a lot

 

[Rodox]

I used to have acne too,there was this one girl who used to tease me a lot about it,she gave me a nickname,that was the name of a chocolat with peanuts sticking out

,anyway I started to wash my face 3 times a day with facial wash and it all went away I only have some scars now...

 

[Errordotocx]

I like that attitude a lot

Thanks. It's been helping a lot with stuff. I dwell much less on mistakes I make or peoples opinions. Now while they still bother me a little, I usually stop myself and just think..."So what?...SO WHAT??...SO ****ING WHAT?!?!?!"... hopefully you get my idea haha. I absolutely ABSOLUTELY refuse to lose this battle against anxiety/shyness. I absolutely refuse to just cope and let it run my life for me. An eradication is in process.

I used to have acne too,there was this one girl who used to tease me a lot about it,she gave me a nickname,that was the name of a chocolat with peanuts sticking out

,anyway I started to wash my face 3 times a day with facial wash and it all went away I only have some scars now...

The scars do suck yes. I believe that there are several products that supposedly say they will remove them, I got dry ice treatments done back when I still had it bad and it did remove some scars for the time being...but they were just replaced by the other bad acne I had. Now it's subsided for the most part, but it still likes to be an asshat and harass me day to day. It's like an old friend you hate but you can't seem to get rid of. As far as my scars go they are still there, in time they will fade away...or I also hope the possibility of some type of treatment to lessen it much more.

 

[IceLad]

Yes, I would say it's definitely a partial cause of my social anxiety.

I used to have it pretty bad and tried endless treatments. Eventually I was put on roactune which certainly did the trick! However before that my face looked bad and every now and again I would get the occasional comment.

Knowing that my face looked bad coupled together with these comments certainly helped to cause social anxiety in me.

 

[SteveW]

I've had it pretty badly since about 14 as well, I'm 21 now. I never gave it much thought through high school, but have become more frustrated with it since college days. I'm not sure I'd put my anxiety down to the acne, but I'd say it contributed to the initial depression.

Let's face it, I've got more issues than my skin to bother about.

 

[nephatitus]

i just stress out way too much and get a ton of acne on my face

thats why i just dedicated 1 day of the week just destresing and most of them go away

 

[Errordotocx]

thats why i just dedicated 1 day of the week just destresing and most of them go away

Hmm, destressing. I might have to find some form or another for me to destress with. I'm usually not busy on Sundays so I could probably do it on those days. It might calm me down and unwind me for the week ahead as well.

 

[Jo1991]

For those of you who have acne this is a natural remedy that has been working for me so far. It is cheap and it doesn't take a lot of time. Take a lemon, take out the juicy and put it on your palm. Take some brown sugar or white sugar and make a paste with it. Rub it on your skin doing small circles like you are scrubbing something and leave on for 5 minutes. You can taste it lol it taste really good. Then rinse with warm water and your skin will feel so soft, oily free and little by little your pimples and other problems will disappear. Do this weekly for better results. Also, drinking unrefined coconut oil, like a table spoon a day can help with acne problems as well.