healing:) R u?

That is great! Happy for you, keep at it. I don't think I am at the point yet where I can actually stop. Just starting to wrap my head around the fact that this is an actual disorder.

I would love to be your 'support partner'..I am more determined than ever to stop. I've just completed my second full day of not picking (I know, sounds insignificant, but its actually a big deal), and surprisingly, I already see the difference....over the weekend, after a terrible (and painful) episode, I realized that this was a problem that went beyond the physical, and actually IS a disorder. I've done a lot of research on recommendations to stop, and types of therapy recommended, and from that point, I vowed to take control. I have been logging my actions/emotions daily, and confessed my 'problem' to my best friend to hold me accountable. I no loner want to live in isolation and reject the world because of something that is in my control....so tomorrow is day 3, and I hope this path continues for me.

Today is particularly rough, especially right now. I want to pick, but I'm not going to... I'm hungry and I'm tired and the best thing for me to do right now is obviously eat and sleep, but instead I'm dying to get a sewing pin to release all of the stuff in my posres. Cos I know it's there.... I'm overly stressed at work and I just can't take it anymore. Venting is way more productive then picking so alas here I am puting out my frustrations into cyberspace. My pain is bubbling, I don't want to go to work. I just want to pick and focus on something to take away my anxiety. No time to exercise, I just need to breath I guess and control my rapid, circular thought process that would deem anyone insane. AHHHHHH. I want to piclk. I'm not going to, instead, I'm going to pick myself up and learn to cope in a healthy manner. I wish my thoughts weren't so repetitive. If I could control that, I wouldn't need to escape reality with the compulsive picking. I wish my mind would STOP! So I'm going to coax it into peace. Everything will be ok. I will be fine. I am fine. All is well. Thanks for listening....

Hi! I am also in the process of healing. I used to pick myself to bits and I found joy and excitement in "cleaning out" my skin (I always thought I had acne and went to numerous doctors. No treatments ever worked!). Over the past few years I have reduced my picking slowly without really realising it. Since I've been married quality time with the mirror was very limited... So now I'm trying to quit. IN the process of quitting completely, I realised the full extent of my picking. Even though I don't pick deeply anymore and I rarely get sores from picking, I realised that I am picking almost every inch of my body. Recovery is hard and my main obstacle is unconcious picking while bored or stressed, but I am positive and I am seeing results. My skin will never be perfect, but that's OK. Do yourself a favour and search fro pictures on google of Victoria Beckham and acne or bad skin. There are a few other celebrities as well, like Cameron Diaz. It makes me feel better when I see these "perfect women", people I've always thought are beautiful, are also just human and have the same skin problems as I have!

So glad to find this sight as I am desperate and feel very alone.

So glad to find this sight as I am desperate and feel very alone.

Hello! I'm 20 and I've been picking at my fingers and lips since I can remember. I used to pick at my face when I was younger, but now my face has cleared up (past the acne age I guess) and I'm happy not to do it any more. But my fingers and lips are getting worse, and I was even doing it when I was reading your posts... I think I'm also neurotic and there might be some more to it, but I don't want to look for more. The problem with me is that I know I can't fight it on my own, but I'm also too scared to sign up to see a psychiatrist. Yesterday I looked up all such doctors in my clinic and I'm not sure if I want to confront them (I know it sounds silly, but it's the most sensitive part of me - my psychical side) and, more importantly, I looked up what such an appointment looks like, and it scared me a lot. I know I would be really stressed, cry etc. I react to stress very poorly, my blood pressure goes crazy and I would feel faint. I know I will get an appointment, but just the fact of calling the clinic scares me. I guess I just have to do it :) Good luck to you, and I'll be happy to join your online support group :)

Yes - this site is great! When I first dared to search for "skin-picking" and eventually found my way to this forum, I was so relieved to find out there were other people that did this compulsively, and that it even was a disorder with a name! For so many years I thought I was the only one. Even every doctor I went to (for staph infections, from really bad picking bouts) had never seen someone pick like that, and they would let all the nurses and interns and whoever come in and look at my face. I've never met or even seen another picker. I'm so glad I found this place, and I also want to scream at all the doctors and family members who refused to listen to me when I said over and over "It isn't acne, I don't think that's what's going on." or "I really can't stop, I can't explain it, but I can't control it." I hate them for 11 years of living in shame and humiliation (and sometimes exclusion from family events, and once refusal of medical care) when I was right and such a thing as uncontrollable picking exists!! Okay that was my rant. Thank you for allowing the rant. Onto more helpful things that have been helpful for me over the years of trial and error. I was fortunate to have gone through the year-ish long DBT (dialectical behavior therapy) treatment process to help stop a separate issue (cutting), which I do not do at all anymore, and haven't for years. I was able, later, to use a lot of those skills to curb picking. I highly recommend it, actually far more than CBT, at least for me. Here are a few DBT skills that work for me (reworded to describe picking episodes, specifically): - If you are in the middle of a can't-stop, manic picking episode where it seems like you have lost control over your hands, and you can't seem to get out of it, even if you are screaming at your hands inside your head to stop, try this: Make an actual vocal noise. And it can't be a whisper or whimper - at least normal talking volume. If you are worried someone in the next room will hear you, you can have a pre-planned phrase that won't draw attention if heard. Mine is "Oh, there it is!" (like I had just found a pen or whatever.) I didn't think this would work when I first tried it, but it totally did, and it still does. It just, like, snaps your mind and body back together somehow. If you can't make a vocal noise, a drastic physical movement, like lurching over or jumping in the air, will do the same thing. - Have a ready made list in your head (or at least handy) of simple, non-harmful, easy activities that take a minute or less. They can't be bad or unpleasant, but they don't have to be super-fun necessarily. When the urge to pick gets to an overwhelming point, just go do the first thing on the list. Do not stop to decide or ruminate. (If the first activity is not possible whereever you are, just skip to the next thing that is.) Continue down the list as long as you need to, if the urge persists. And repeat as necessary. (My list includes: wash hands, brush hair, brush the cat, play one song on the piano, etc. But everyone makes up their own) This is really long already, so I will stop here. But if this is helpful I can post more stuff. I also would love to hear any tips that others have - I think this topic is great! Thank you!