How psychodermatology treats skin conditions from the inside out – doctor helps patients understand mind-body connection

We know how stress can affect our bodies, from gut problems to inflammation, but the link between our skin and our state of mind is often underexplored

A psychodermatologist and one of her patients explain the two-pronged approach of treating skin conditions while looking deeper for their underlying cause

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Dr Alia Ahmed is a psychodermatologist who looks for the underlying causes of patients’ skin ailments by examining the interaction between mind and skin. Photo: Dr Alia Ahmed

Published: 5:46am, 12 Jan 2024Updated: 12:48pm, 12 Jan 2024

Psychodermatology is the treatment of skin disorders using techniques from psychology to address the interaction between the mind and skin. In essence, it is to understand the way the skin feels, and reacts to the way a person feels.

If you aren’t familiar with the word, you’re probably familiar with the concept: think how good you – and your skin – feel after a massage.

The mind-body connection has been recognised for centuries, says UK psychodermatologist Dr Alia Ahmed: it goes back to the time of Hippocrates.

One of Ahmed’s clients, Louise, doesn’t think the word does the practice justice. “It makes you think it’s for people who are imagining a problem with their skin – which it isn’t.”

For Louise, treatment was a way of learning to respect her skin and body at the same time as receiving medical advice.

As a psychodermatologist, Dr Alia Ahmed simultaneously treats patients’ skin conditions and underlying mental health problems. Photo: Dr Alia Ahmed

She saw Ahmed for hair loss which had developed over 12 months, and vitiligo – the development of pale white patches on the skin caused by a lack of melanin. She had struggled with the condition for years but noticed it had begun to spread.