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College Student who has never seeked advice/help and needs it desperately!
Hello everyone.
My name is Stella, I'm a full time student studying nursing, and this is my first time coming to terms with the fact that I compulsively pick my skin. I've picked ever since I was very young, and my mom always tells me that she would have to put gloves over my hands when I was four years old, in order to stop the picking. I am now 20 years old and I can't stop picking.
I tried going cold turkey, and my attempts at stopping are futile. I pick my face and scalp mostly. I pick my shoulders, back, neck, and arms, Rarely my legs anymore, but my picking used to be concentrated there when I played a lot of sports. It's embarrassing because I'm constantly covering my face. I spend a lot of time covering my face with makeup, even to the point where when my boyfriend sleeps over at college, I'll wash my face at night and put dots of concealer over the sores so he isn't worried.
I spend a lot of time in front of the mirror examining my face. When I'm late to class, I put a hat on my head and I look down so people don't see how bad my face is. People will point out my sores sometimes, and I'll tell them I got bitten by mosquitos.
It's getting pretty bad and I'm not sure what to do. What makes it so disturbing for me is the embarrassment, shame, and guilt that I feel from picking.
Emotionally, I'm feeling pretty well in general, my grades are good, my relationship and family is a healthy environment, so I'm not sure why it's so hard for me to stop. Sometimes I feel it's almost second nature for me to pick. Sometimes, I don't even realize that I'm touching my face!
Should I seek counseling at school? Get to a support group? or find a specialist?! I'm so confused and no one seems to understand my addiction. If anyone has any wisdom they would like to share about the direction I should go to next, I would love some insight.
Thank you all so much,
Stella
In reply to I found some help at the OCD by heikkilae
In reply to Hey Stella, my name is by sajmai
In reply to Hey Stella, my name is by sajmai