Those who've successfully stopped... how did you do it?

i have picked 3 spots in coming up on 11 weeks. i did go 48 days in a row with no picking at all. i have posted many topics in this forum and responded with many of my tactics in many of the topics posted by others. by reading through them i believe you'll glean more from just my saying ...... i got serious ... researched wound healing ... researched diet for good skin health ... researched vitamins and supplements for skin health and healing ... researched chronic skin picking and found this site and stoppickingonme.com .... and put together a plan of action involving information gathered from all those sites .... committed to no picking for one day or one hour at a time and surprised myself by making it a week and then joined the 40 day challenge and made it 48 days with no picking ... whereas i had numerous sores that required bandaging nightly at the time i quit, by 48 days all my sores healed up ... for the first time in decades, i had healed skin ... it's all about taking proper care of yourself, and being determined to not pick ... it's about not letting yourself down ... treating your body with respect and love ... positive self talk ... rewards ... but most of all, wanting to quit and wanting it bad is important ... to excuse the behaviour in any sense is denial ... i believe the mind is a powerful thing and has the capability of overcoming compulsive behaviours and the like ... i picked for decades and realize now the denial i was in ... i woke up, smelled the coffee, got serious, got my plan and quit ... i can't say it was easy, i've picked 3 times, but i'm determined to make it to 100 days with no more picking ... and longer ... the urges are still there but they're not as bad anymore ... i will always have to be vigilant and always will ... i'm not special ... i don't have anything beyond my 54 yrs of age that some of you don't have yet ... i don't think you need to live this long to be able to finally quit self harming ... at least i certainly hope that's not the case ... quit now because it won't go away on its own and there's no magic bullet that will cure it ... do not allow self harming practices ... period .... choose healthy loving practices ... respect the only thing that'll ever be truly your very own .... your body ... your responsibility.

Well, today wasn't 100% pick free, but I did do significantly better than yesterday. More of my teachers are also remembering to stop me, which is helping so much. I remembered to bring my guitar capo into school today to squeeze if I became tempted... but I forgot it squeaked. Fail! Oh well, I know I can find other things to do...

You sound like you really want to stop and that is a good first step. I wanted to stop for over a year now and different things gave me an insight into why I picked (notice the past tense there! :) ) Last year I had hypnotherapy. I fell asleep near the end so I walked out thinking it probably hadn't worked. But I tried to pick my fingers and it felt so weird - I wasn't getting the pleasure that I usually got but hadn't noticed before. That worked for quite a few months but then at some point last year I started again. I went back to see my doctor after looking at this website and similar ones. I asked him if he could get me CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) as I knew it was available on the NHS. He said he would but after a month I had heard nothing. I then noticed that there was a councillor at my college. In just 40 minutes with him I realised that I wasn't picking because of stress, it was in anticipation of anxiety. For example - when I was having driving lessons, I would sit there in the passenger seat and pick away at my skin because I was worried that when it was my turn to drive, I would make a mistake and my instructor would shout at me. But my instructor had never shouted at me and at the end of the lesson I would feel fine, but still pick at the start of the next. So now I've gone nearly two weeks and the urge isn't very strong at all. If I feel myself start to pick, I stop and ask myself why. Basically what I'm saying is get help in finding out why YOU pick not why a typical skin-picker picks. Good luck :)

I'm doing a lot better, but still pick a little bit when i'm stressed out (which is a lot less now that culinary school is over). I have a few spots on my legs left and one big sore on my face that i'm trying very hard to heal. But I was able to wear a short dress yesterday with only a few instances of embarassment bc of the scars. Here are the things that are working for me. 1. Keep baby lotion in your purse and by the spot in your house where you pick the most (for me it's in the bathroom so i keep some lotion right by the toilet and put the lotion on instead of picking) this has SO many positive aspects...one: you're helping to heal your skin and it's hypoallergenic which doesn't irritate any open wounds two: it's a little oily and melts right when you put it on, which makes it almost impossible to pick three: the act of putting on the lotion (though not as stress releasing as picking) helps because you still get to touch that part of your body. I use the bedtime baby lotion because it has calming properties as well. 2. It is ALWAYS temping to pick, but once you start healing, you can tell yourself that you have come this far and how hard it was to get there. The further you get away from your dermatilomania, the happier and healthier you will be. Also, as you heal, you will have less and less bumps and places to pick 3. Wear clothes that SHOW your places you pick. I pick my legs. It gets worse in the winter because my legs are constantly covered and I don't have to worry about people seeing my sores, so it's easy to pick and not get stared at or noticed. If I wear shorts or a skirt, I won't pick because I know whatever I do will be seen by other people right away. 4. Make one of your close friends, boyfriend/husband, family member, your confidant, tell them that if they see you picking to grab your hand or have another signal to tell you that they have noticed youre picking and they want you to stop. Sometime I don't even realize I'm picking until my friend grabs my hand. Hope this helps...Stay strong and good luck everybody lovelovelove Jen