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The contents of this website are not intended to be medical advice.
Please see your healthcare
professional
with any specific questions about your condition and / or treatment.
Our lives can be stressful at times, with feelings of low mood caused by daily struggles or larger life events, be they illnesses, parenting, work stress, family, housing or money issues, relationship struggles, bereavement, or many other concerns.
For people with atopic dermatitis, stress was the most commonly reported trigger of flare-ups in a 2020 study. Experiencing stress contributes to inflammation throughout the body, and affects the skin’s ability to repair itself. In turn, this can lead to damage of the skin barrier, worsening symptoms, and further stress, in a self-reinforcing loop.
Living with atopic dermatitis, can be challenging to one’s mental health, with almost three quarters of people surveyed saying that their atopic dermatitis negatively impacts their mental health, causing:
It’s normal for people to experience anxiety during periods of stress, however, people sometimes experience anxiety more often or more intensely which affects their everyday functioning. There are many different types of anxiety. One of them is Generalised Anxiety Disorder and some of its symptoms may include:
Feeling down from time to time is normal. However, depression is much more than this and occurs when people experience persistent sadness for an extended period of time.
The severity of depression can vary from individuals. However, some of the recognised symptoms include:
Bionical Health are here to support you, and the information in this online content can help. You will also receive access to a companion artificial intelligence (AI) supported app called Wysa. You can communicate with Wysa 24/7 via text and it will support you with techniques that have been created by psychologists to support your emotional wellbeing.
It is possible to understand the level of your anxiety or depression through completing calmness, mood and wellbeing questionnaires. To help further, you will receive ongoing reminders to complete your questionnaires every couple of weeks. Completing these questionnaires consistently may help you to improve your mental wellbeing.
If the Bionical Health team sees from your calmness, mood, and wellbeing questionnaire responses that your mental health is declining, Bionical Health will contact you and offer individualised support with a qualified therapist to help you understand and manage your mood. Anything you share with the therapist will be confidential unless you provide any information that may lead the therapist to believe you are at a significant risk of harm or if your life is in immediate danger.
If you feel low, it can be hard to stay motivated about making positive lifestyle choices. The good news is that there are lots of things we can do to improve our mood and some of the following tips can support you.
There are different unhelpful thinking patterns we all experience. One of them is called catastrophising. This occurs when someone assumes the worst-case scenario or thinks things are much worse than they actually are. For example, you may not want to take part in social activities because of what you feel others will think of you. This can cause stress and feelings of anxiety and depression. The following activities can help manage these thoughts.
Mindfulness exercises are focused on experiencing the present moment without thoughts of judgement. As a result of practicing them, you may realise that they help you to better manage catastrophising thoughts and bring you back to fully experience the present moment. This may provide you with some space between what’s happening now and the things you’re assuming will happen, like what you think people may think of you.
Try the following activities to help you to become more mindful:
You may not realise you are catastrophising. Try to be mindful of your thoughts and pay attention to what you are thinking. Ask yourself whether what you are thinking is a perceived disaster or a definite outcome.
Schedule a period of time every day and write down each of your negative thoughts. This session can help break the habit of dwelling on your worries and act as a safety net to contain your worries.
Instead of viewing each item of your list as a fact, treat them as theories you are testing out and look for solutions to manage them. Try asking yourself:
Make a list of all the solutions you can think of and write them down. Once you have evaluated your options, make an action plan. You may feel better when you have a plan, and you start addressing your concerns.
It can help to write down a few things in your scheduled time to manage your thoughts that you are grateful for. This will remind you of the positive things in your life and draw focus away from the negative thoughts.
Being physically active can be beneficial for your atopic dermatitis and physical health and help your wellbeing. Exercising can improve your self-esteem and boosts your mood. For more advice on how much exercise you should do, take a look at our article on ‘keeping active with atopic dermatitis’.
Eating a healthy, balanced diet is also beneficial for your atopic dermatitis, mental and physical health. For more advice on your diet, head over to our article on ‘Nutrition and atopic dermatitis’ ’.
Getting enough sleep each night is important for a number of reasons, supporting brain function is one of them. A lack of sleep can affect your mood and the way you process information, potentially causing anxiety and depression to worsen. For more advice on how to improve your sleep, see our article on ‘Sleep and atopic dermatitis’.
Make sure that one of these is something that usually gives you pleasure or satisfaction: seeing friends, reading for pleasure, going to a film alone or with others. Write yourself a note of when and where you are going to do this. Tick off when you have done it and set new goals.
Try taking a few deep breaths to calm yourself before addressing your negative thoughts. Slow, controlled breathing can help to reduce anxiety or calm depressive or anxious thoughts – it only takes a few moments, and it can be done anywhere. Doing yoga or other forms of light exercise, listening to calming music or engaging in a hobby you enjoy can also help.
Practising relaxation could also help improve your condition, since stress is a major trigger for atopic dermatitis flares. Schedule time to become more conscious of the present moment (practising breathing exercises is a good way to start).
The Breathing Bubble is an audiovisual guide that may help you maintain rhythm and pace during your breathing sessions. In the link below it can help to watch the bubble as it expands and contract and then follow with your breath.
Take a deep breath - Bing video
If you are feeling that your mental health is in decline, contact your GP, Emergency Services or Samaritans 116 123.