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If this is a disease, it must be genetic
Hello, I just recently found this site about an hour ago have been reading all the posts. I have been picking and eating my scabs since I was 8 or 9, and I'm now 29. My twin sister and I both have this skin picking disease, and my siblings all bite and chew their nails, but they don't pick scabs, it's just my sister and I. I am really surprised that there's a name for this condition and that is so common. Well, more common than I thought. I noticed some people mentioned white bumps under the scab, which I've never really noticed before. I just know that every single piece of scab has to be picked off and eaten or I'm not satisfied. If i pick a scab and I drop it, I will find it, and if I don't, it almost upsets me. Can anyone else relate to these things?
It seems to be genetic. My brother also picks his skin, but he mainly focuses on upper arms and back, while I pick my face 99% of the time. He also experiences anxiety and OCD, which have been a struggle for me all my life.
I do not eat my scabs, I like to peel them off because it gives me a sense of control over my body. And the cognitive confusion I experience is in thinking that by picking off the scabs I am somehow helping my body in its healing process. Maybe my mind has created that concept to allow itself to keep up this skin picking addiction.
I just wish that I would register it as being unhealthy and BAD...yet my mind seems to want to constantly rationalize it and I find myself acting like an addict. Ill be at the mirror arguing with my impulse, eventually being pulled under its spell by duping myself into believing that this will be "the last time" that I pick. Its silly and its never the last time. I am sure that drug addicts also often say that it will be their last time taking a drug, I certainly understand the strong compulsive tendencies. And then my mind tries to rationalize by telling itself...well at least I'm not a drug addict (in hopes of making itself feel better). This problem seems to be just as bad though because it alienates me from people and often causes me to be a shut in.