does it run in your family?

I do. My mum picks too, she as done for as long i can remember. I'm also a picker too. I also suffer with bipolar and my mum as OCD tendencies, and suffers with depression so i'd say it is heredity. All my family suffer with depression too except one.

I've been picking since I was 11. I am 22 now. My mom and dad both told me that they did the same thing in middle school, but they both "grew out" of it. It was weird though because when I started doing it they both said, "I did that too" without realizing that the other had done it in the past.

I have a twin sister and she started doing it before I did; I started doing it because I saw her doing it once, when she was sitting at the computer. Seven years later, she has stopped a while ago, yet I continue.

I am the only member of my family who does this. Things like OCD, panic disorder, and anxiety run in my immediate family though, so it could be linked to that. I've always had an addictive personality though, and I was always seeking a "security blanket." I sucked my thumb until I was 7, because it was comforting. I think that may have been when I started picking.

I just found this site today. I always thought that my grandmother, my father and myself were the only people who picked scabs. I remember from the time I was a little girl how my grandmother would pick the scabs on her arms. Then I noticed my father doing the same thing when I was in my teens. The strange thing is, is that it was my maternal grandmother and not my father's mother who was the picker. I remember picking scabs from the time I was very young and I was also a chronic nail biter until 3 yrs ago. Depression also runs in my family. I didn't start picking to such a great extent until 10 yrs ago when I met my ex-husband. As the years with him went on, my picking became worse and worse until my arms and legs are covered with scars. I hoped that since we split 3 yrs ago that I would stop, but I haven't been able to do so.

I had started picking at sores on my arms back in the late 70's after I was badly burned on one arm at work with chemicals. I always thought that after that it had caused some kind of dermatitis or psoriasis. I truly feel a horrific itching in which I start to scratch and once I start scratching it turns into picking and causing open wounds and terrible scares. Through the years it has been only located on certain areas, one time will be on one arm or one leg or just my shoulders, but lately it is all over. My doctor seems to think it is Neurotic Excoriations. I know that for the last 15 years have had a lot of depression and worry, my mother was very ill for a long time and lived with her so I could take care of her. After her death though the picking continued. I am now engaged to a wonderful man whom truly understands that I am trying desperately to stop the picking. I have been in 2007 put in the hospital for both of my legs being terribly infected, they have since healed, than my arms started in 2008 and they are just about healed but now it is my thighs and back. I think it is the itching though that drives me crazy. Does anybody out there have the terrific itching? If only that would stop perhaps I could leave my skin alone. I am so relieved to know that there are others out there with the same problem. I was beginning to think that I was alone in this. The doctor again has given me anti-biotics to try to heal the infections. I have tried even putting gloves on at home while awake and at night because I know I do this at night too while I am sleeping. It seems to help a great deal. Also using a lotion and rubbing it in using a lot of pressure seems to ease the itching. If anyone has any other suggestions for the itch please let me know. I am tired of not being able to go to the Jacuzzi or swimming because the sores are so ugly.

it's hereditary.... Myself, my dad, two of his brothers and 4 of my cousins from my dad's side..... :-(

My brother used to do it just the same as me, but he stopped a few years ago :(. I felt like it kind of gave us a sort of camaraderie! Now he just makes fun of me for my 'disgusting fingers' - boo!! I know of mental illness in my family, but not sure if there are any other pickers..

My whole family has picking issues. My mom has anixety issues with depression and picks her scalp. My dad is bipolar and picks his nails, cuticles and feet. My brother has ADD/OCD and picks his face and I am an anxious person who has depressive issues/OCD and i pick my cuticles to death. I pick at my face and scalp though far less than my cuticles. Hate this! Any one tried the online counseling offered here? I just signed up. Hoping it helps me.

i dont know if it runs in my family..but i've been doing it since i was a child

I started picking at my face in college, and then graduated to picking at my arms, legs, chest, stomach, back, everywhere. It's gotten really bad in the past five or six years since I was attacked and raped in my home by a random stranger who broke in. I've been through about two years of therapy now, but the picking just keeps on. I will get in a zone when I'm in the bathroom, and spend hours pinching, tearing at what I think are clogged pores, blemishes..."imperfections." I stay up too late and lose sleep. I'm worried that the scars will never go away...that I'm doing permanent damage. I'm already on antidepressants and they don't help with the picking. But, I don't feel depressed! I am ashamed of what I do, afraid people think I'm a drug addict or have some nasty contagious rash, or that there's just something very wrong with me. I don't want anyone to touch or see my skin. I avoid relationships...haven't had a date in two and a half years. I'm 31 years old.

I forgot to say, my sister is anorexic, my mom is anorexic, my dad is an alcoholic, and my brother is a hypochondriac. All have anxiety/depression. Yay.

Mom has mild depression. No other mental health history on either side. Do you think it could be a product of an environment that has so much more stimulation then previous generations?

my mum showed me scars on her arms today when i admitted to her whats really going on with my skin. her and my dad were and in some way still are pickers. i think its definitely got a hereditary factor to it