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Jena8604 , 28 May 2010

Derma Awareness

I was curious if anyone knew if there was any organization for Dermatillomania awareness. I feel like as I get better, I would like to make other people more aware of our problem.
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cherrycolalola
May 29, 2010
I dont know of any, but Im all for it! It would be so nice to have more awareness and understanding. Theres TWLOHA (to write love on her arms) for cutters, it would be cool to have that for pickers. It would also be awesome if there could be some education in schools about this. I suffered in High School and didn't know I had a problem with a name for a long time. We had classes on sex and drugs and other social issues etc. A demonstration about self-harm/picking might have helped me get a grip sooner.
wildflower
May 29, 2010
there definitely should be more awareness about this disorder. doctors and dermatologists and psychologists and psychiatrists should all be taking its prevalence more seriously. there simply should be more talk about it. it shouldn't be allowed to continue to be the elephant in the room that isn't discussed or dealt with. it needs to come out of the closet. and i believe it is getting closer to that point. whereas at first only a few sites were found by googling skin picking or dermatillomania, more and more are showing up in the search results. more and more people are seeking the information and finding it. online books as well as published books are being written about it. and we can begin talking about it too, to our doctors, parents, significant others, social workers, counselors, therapists, and raise awareness in our search for support and understanding. i believe even reducing the silence of it will help sufferers deal with it by taking away the shame and embarrassment.
lifeisbeautiful
May 29, 2010
I agree there needs to be more awareness in the medical community! I'm in med school now and compulsive skin picking was mentioned briefly in a psychiatry lecture on the topic of body dysmorphic disorder. It was the only disorder that was stated to be very hard to treat and there are no meds that will help. Sadly, that is what they are teaching future doctors. There is a wealth of information and various support groups on the internet. I found a good website called The Trichotillomania Learning Center, which includes skin picking under the umbrella of Trich (they often go hand in hand, but not always). The Trich Center is putting on a retreat this July in Maryland for pickers/pullers and their loved ones. Pretty cool! Skin picking is definitely a disorder that is slowly coming out of the dark. We are all masters of disguise, right?! So it's up to us, the skin pickers, to inform others especially our doctors, that this illness needs to be taken seriously!

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