The Mind-Skin Quiz

Could stress be triggering your acne, eczema, or psoriasis? This quiz from Skin Deep: A New Mind/Body Program for Healthy Skin (Health Press, 1992) by Ted Grossbart, PhD, can help determine if your emotions are a factor in your skin problems. The more questions you answer with “yes,” the more significant the factor.

1. Do your symptoms get worse—or better—with emotional turmoil?
2. Is your condition more stubborn, severe, or recurrent than your doctor expects?
3. Are usually effective treatments not working for you?
4. Do most treatments work but not for long?
5. Is each disappearing symptom quickly replaced with another?
6. Do your symptoms get better or worse in a very erratic, seemingly nonsensical way?
7. Do you see striking ups and downs in your symptoms with changes in your social environment—vacations, hospitalizations, business trips, or visits from family members or bosses?
8. Do people find you strikingly stoic, unruffled, or computer-like in the face of stressful life events?
9. Is your level of distress and concern about the problem strikingly high or conspicuously absent?
10. Is your skin worse in the morning, suggesting that you rub or scratch unintentionally at night?
11. Do you have trouble following your healthcare provider’s instructions?
12. Do you do things you know will hurt your skin, such as squeezing pimples or overexposing yourself to sunlight?
13. Do you feel excessively dependent on your dermatologist or excessively angry with him or her? (Even if the faults are real, are you overreacting?)
14. Does it seem that others notice improvements in your skin before you do? Is it hard for you to acknowledge when your skin has improved?