The Connection Between Victimhood and Acne, Part 2
A German New Medicine Perspective on Skin and Self
The deep, innate wisdom within you becomes accessible through self-responsibility—one of the 8 Foundations of Wellness. True healing begins when you take ownership of how you perceive life and your experiences, choosing to show up for yourself rather than waiting for someone else to do it for you.
When you step into a higher version of yourself, you shift the narrative from "Why me?" to "I am responsible for the energy I bring to each experience." With this new awareness, you begin to see your patterns more clearly, even noticing when you ‘fall’ back into victimhood.
From the perspective of German New Medicine (GNM), acne arises from biological conflicts related to feeling attacked, or perceiving oneself as disfigured, ugly, or dirty.
How Is Victimhood Connected to Acne?
When you feel attacked, you assume the role of the victim, while the ‘attacker’ naturally takes on the role of the perpetrator.
The perception of yourself as disfigured or dirty often stems from experiences where you feel inadequate or less than others. Such feelings are directly connected to victimhood, which is characterised by a sense of helplessness or bad luck.
This is not to invalidate your experience or your truth. It’s about awareness. When you recognize your tendency to perceive through these lens, you can step out of it more quickly and with greater ease.
The goal isn’t to detach from your emotions or avoid life’s intensity but to become more embodied and aware. Seeing yourself clearly—your perceptions, the stories you tell, and your recurring patterns—enables you to engage with life more joyfully and peacefully.
You’re not here to avoid conflict, symptoms, or ‘dis-ease.’ You’re here to experience and engage with the wisdom of your biology, enabling you to live in greater alignment and cohesion while simply enjoying life.
Victimhood disrupts peace. While it may feel familiar or even comforting for a time, it’s a pattern best learned from, not lived in. And it can help you grow.
Acne acts as a physical shield—covering you when you feel unattractive and protecting you when you feel attacked.
Seeing your acne often becomes a ‘track’, leading to more breakouts because you perceive acne as ugly, dirty, or disfigured. This symptom can perpetuate itself until you achieve a practical or perceptual resolution—or both. Practical resolutions, like avoiding mirrors to not see the acne, are often easier and quicker but won’t address our psyche directly. Perceptual resolutions usually require more inner work and self-understanding, which this article focuses on in relation to victimhood.
When you see a pimple on your face, you often perceive yourself as ugly, but this perception can be changed. Who decided that acne is ugly? Why do we, as a society, view it that way? I’ve learned through experience that we don’t even need to go as far as believing acne is beautiful; we just need to understand why it’s showing up. It’s okay that we don’t like having acne; in fact, this feels more normal to me than normalising chronic acne.
Trying to shift such a deep belief from 'acne is ugly' to 'acne is beautiful' may not be feasible. Instead, we can lessen the intensity of our feelings when we see a pimple by understanding our biology, our perceptions, and our recent experiences.
Intuitively, I believe we know that chronic acne isn’t 'normal' from a biological perspective, which can lead to the belief that 'something is wrong'—but this isn’t true. Nothing is wrong with your body; you are not broken. It’s important to understand that asserting something isn’t normal doesn’t imply that something is wrong. This perspective holds true for any symptom through the lens of GNM. Your body is designed to respond in whatever way it does, and trusting it allows you to find peace whenever acne arises. If the acne is chronic, it often indicates a cycle of feeling attacked or ugly, stepping onto 'tracks,' and it is your responsibility to understand what lies beneath and to change or stop the narrative.
I don’t want to normalise acne; from the lens of GNM, it represents a conflict. However, I believe that every experience, including this one, serves a purpose, and every physical symptom offers a glimpse into our soul's journey toward deeper growth and healing. Instead of normalising chronic symptoms, we can normalise self-healing and the connection between the psyche, brain, and organs.
A Note on Diving Deep:
Sometimes, not knowing is necessary and okay—especially through the lens of GNM. There may be conflicts that you literally can’t remember. You don’t need to have all the answers from the past to heal; what matters is being aware of the present. Your body is expressing something related to the now, which is why you’re still experiencing it. Acceptance and awareness alone can resolve a conflict—you don’t have to do anything.
Today’s beauty standards, as portrayed on social media, are anything but biological; they often seem plastic and tainted. This article isn’t meant to shame anyone or convince you of a particular viewpoint. It simply aims to examine things through a biological lens. Biologically, Botox and fillers may not align with that perspective. I understand the appeal of vanity; I have an ego too and appreciate beauty. Perhaps in 10 or 20 years, my perspective will shift. Until then, this is where I stand and what I have to share with you.
Ultimately, your body is doing its job. And because your body holds this innate wisdom and knows how to heal, you could also say that your body is simply being.
Questions for Reflection
How do you lean into victimhood and, consciously or not, create scenarios where you feel like a victim? How are you co-creating your reality? These are questions worth exploring, whether or not acne is part of the picture. Acne is one possible symptom of victimhood, but it isn’t the only one. Self-devaluation, for example, also often manifests with a “woe is me” or “this isn’t fair” energy and a sense of shame.
Why You Keep Returning to These Patterns
Why do you repeatedly return to victimhood, even when you think you’ve “healed” or changed? The answer is simple: being a victim often feels good. There’s a part of you that finds comfort in it and likes it.
It’s easier to be a victim than to take radical responsibility. So you choose comfort, preferring to be coddled or validated for being the underdog in some way.
Steps Toward Shifting Out of Victimhood
See and Hear Yourself More Clearly: Recognise your patterns, understand why you ‘fall’ into them, and notice how you speak about yourself and your experiences.
Be Open to Feedback: Accept reflections from those around you as valuable insights into your own behaviour. Interactions with others are co-creations, and their responses can teach you about yourself. Approach your ‘triggers’ with curiosity and less hostility. It’s for your own good.
Cultivate Inner Safety: Victimhood often stems from feeling unsafe and wanting to be rescued. To truly step out of these patterns, you have to learn how to cultivate safety within yourself and not outsource it. In moments when you feel ‘triggered’ or tell stories about something, learn how to create space and pause to see yourself first. Then, you can make the decision to take responsibility and bring yourself back to your own sense of safety. This can be done in many ways—learning to get into your body and out of your mind will help.
None of us are immune to stepping into the victim role. We all have the opportunity to learn about ourselves on a heart and soul level when we choose to see our life, symptoms, and experiences from a different lens.
Remaining compassionate and cultivating your own safety within gives you the opportunity to begin to shift and heal.
Changing your perceptions can be challenging and often takes multiple layers to pull back, but this deep work allows you to make changes that last a lifetime and have the greatest impact on the people you love and care for—and for your ancestors to come.
I invite and encourage you to accept where you are now and to embrace your skin and any symptoms of acne, rather than viewing acne as a sign that your body is broken, sick, or failing. This acceptance is a powerful step toward breaking the victim cycle.
As I have often said:
You can’t change what you don’t know. Creating change requires awareness, and gaining that awareness requires you to slow down.
Awareness enables you to bring what’s unconscious into consciousness. With consciousness comes choice.
You always have a choice.
PS: If this resonates with you, please share this article and your reflections in the comments.
In health,
Abigail
Do you have any good resources to dive deeper into victimhood? Books, podcasts, accounts?
Hi Abigail, this has rocked my world for the past several days. So beautiful, so impactful. I keep coming it back to it and writing down quotes and pondering your messages. I aspire to find healing of my chronic cystic acne, after trying literally everything, I now need to explore healing through radical responsibility and not playing victim. Thank you, beautiful soul.