We know that eczema in children have been linked to other ailments such as allergies and asthma, but can it be connected to a child’s mental health?
Yes, according to a German University study published recently in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Three researchers, Assistant Professor Jochen Schmitt of Dresden University Hospital, Dr. Christian Apfelbacher (Heidelberg University Hospital) and Dr. Joachim Heinrich of the Institute of Epidemiology of Helmholtz Zentrum München, studied 5,991 children born between 1995-1998, and have concluded that children who suffered from eczema during the first two years of life is more likely to suffer from emotional and psychological problems.
Here is how the study was conducted according to ScienceDaily.com:
“Within the framework of the GINIplus study, scientists tracked the family history of the children, collected data on their physical health and emotional condition at age 10 years and gathered information on their daily lives. Questions were asked about the course of disease — also in early childhood — with special focus on diseases such as eczema, asthma, allergic rhinitis, stress tolerance and behavioral abnormalities.”
Later in the article, doctor Joachim Heinrich affirms:
“We suspect that it is mainly the secondary symptoms that have a long-term effect on the emotions of the affected children,” Joachim Heinrich said. The authors of the study therefore recommend documenting the occurrence of eczema as potential risk factor for later psychological problems in the children’s medical records, even if the actual primary disease abates and disappears during the course of childhood.”
Linking childhood eczema and mental/behavorial problems is an interesting connection. Parents, have you noticed any behavioral or emotional issues with your eczematous little ones? Tell us your thoughts below!
You can read the article in its entirety here.
April 27th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
nice post.. i like it.
May 4th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
I had eczema from 2 weeks old and was covered head to toe in it for years. Although I have considered the effects it must have had on my parents pyschologically, it took me a lot longer to think how it may have affected me in that way. Obviously I do not remember how I felt at a very early age but frustration must have been a frequent feeling for me, add into that the fact that there really is nothing anyone can do to stop the intense, destructive scratching and that’s bound to produce an angry child! What it’s done to me, I do not know and as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t really matter where the darker parts of my personality came from (we all have them!
), it’s how I understand and control them now that’s important. I do think that realising that having eczema will most likely have had a detrimental effect on my personality has helped me mature into a calmer adult and this aspect of the condition should be taken into account when dealing with people who have/had eczema.
I hope this doesn’t sound like a self pity story!
May 14th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
Honestly? Horse hockey. I’ve had eczema on my hands since I was a baby. It’s been pretty severe, especially when I was a child, and my hands looked awful – cracked, bleeding, oozing, sometimes infected. Once, I even got a staph infection.
True, it was less than pleasant in grade school and junior high when people were tactless enough to be visibly squicked about my touching them, or to be taken aback if they didn’t realize the condition my hands were in. But I don’t think it was psychologically damaging – or if it was, I got over it.
I *know* I was never whiny, angry or anything but accepting about the condition. It was there. I dealt with it. Sometimes it hurt. Having to soak my oozing, hugely swollen (and blackened) hand for two weeks in Burrough’s Solution instead of getting to go out and play definitely fell in to the ‘it hurt’ category.
But both my parents have told me that they were both astonished that I never did whine or complain about the eczema. In some ways, my mother said it almost made it worse for her because I didn’t — she had to be doubly vigilant because I wouldn’t tell them anything until the situation was truly bad.
In some ways, true, eczema can be a kind of disability. I would have loved to have been a vet, but there’s no way I could have worked in any part of the medical field. I cannot wash my hands so frequently, nor, after nearly losing my hand once to that staph infection, risk contracting infection through the open cracks on my skin.
But you know what? I’ve managed to do about everything else I’ve wanted to do. And *everyone* has something they can’t do. I’ve got a lot of other natural assets that others don’t have, either. That’s called life.
Let’s get over the psychological damage, already. What didn’t kill us made us stronger.
May 21st, 2010 at 5:33 am
This is a curable disease just needs to have a regular visit to the doctor. Eczema symptoms can be known easily.
May 21st, 2010 at 6:42 am
My two boys are 10 and 8 and both suffer from facial eczema. They are now seeing a psychologist because of ongoing psychological problems. They also have problems with day time and night time wetting, with no medical cause. The older they get the more obvious the problems are. If there is a possible link, my boys psychological history and persistent eczema out breaks validate the findings.
August 19th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
i am an adult who has suffered from severe eczema my entire life i believe i may have some emotinonal problems
as a child it was everywhere from my head to toe know it is mainly on my hands this didnt start until i was about 14 right around the time i started smoking could that be a factor oh yeah i am now 25
January 17th, 2011 at 4:27 pm
Yes, this was absolutely my experience. It’s hard to say having disfiguring eczema as a child directly caused my mental health issues, but after being in therapy for a couple years I do believe the two are related. I have a diagnosis of PTSD and every time my skin gets worse now it’s harder emotionally than physically. I also have other health issues that were caused by damage to my skin and years of preventative antibiotics.
I do believe it’s important to remember that there are other risk factors for mental health disorders (like family history, which exists in my case). But I don’t see how physical pain, staring, teasing, heavy sedatives, hospital trips etc. couldn’t have at least some effect on a person’s life further down the road.
March 14th, 2011 at 1:10 pm
HI
I am not sure whether it affects her in the future. But my experience is that due to eczema, we develop several other things (may be due to medication side effects)
What I think is if you stop giving steroids, or other allopathic itch medicine, and try controlling it then, she would not fall in such problems in the future.
itch medicine ultimately develop other problems even if they cure your current need
May 4th, 2011 at 9:09 am
My 12 year old has suffered with Eczema since she was about 6 months old. Before Elidel was released (she was about 3) as an approved steroid cream my baby suffered a great deal.
My memory of her being an infant screaming in pain and not being able to help her all the time is etched in my mind and I have often wondered if her insecurities and sometimes feelings of inadequacies are a result of the anger and pain she suffered as an infant, through her toddler years and now. She has Eczema on her face, arms, back of her legs, stomach. Elidel was a great relief to her pain but at $110 a tube, which in her case and because of the severity of which she had it would only last a few weeks. We did what we could and as she has gotten older she has suffered with many staph infections, strep through that because her skin is so sensitive it then broke out into impetigo (on her face, the backs of her legs and on her stomach- at different times). It’s my understanding now that Elidel isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.
She’s a beautiful girl and as a young soon to be teenager, I do think she lacks in self-esteem about the white patches on her face, scaly arms and legs, the constant itching; it all feeds into her mental stability. I also do think that this along with a family history of mental instability could lead to lasting behavioral disorders.
Cedes Mother
May 8th, 2011 at 1:52 pm
Try using soapnuts- they have helped so many people that i know that have kids with eczema. They are cheap and 100% natural can be used to wash skin hair and even used in washinh machines to wash clothes with.
January 14th, 2012 at 4:17 pm
19 years ago when my son was two, no matter what hour we tucked him in and he fell asleep, he would awaken three hours later in agony, crying and itching and tormented by his skin.
He was in a between wake/sleep zone, unable to be comforted and soothed. We would hold him until the episode passed, and after 15 or 20 minutes, he would sink back to sleep.
I have always wondered the psychological toll of being awoken in the night in misery, so young, and so traumatic.
He was a spirited child, naughty pre-teen, extremely bright and studious as he got older, and now is in college studying physics. He struggles socially, is shy and quiet and finds interaction difficult.
Related? Maybe….like other parents, we watch and wait and hope for these kids. And keep researching for relief.
January 31st, 2012 at 12:36 pm
People with clear visible skin conditions or even other physical conditions can all suffer from psycological problems. It is imperative that we parents not only help them find a solution to their physical condition but also their mental state.