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Sufferer?


Guest Time to Change

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Guest Time to Change

So this is basically my first post on here...

Over the past 2/3 years I have been struggling with skin picking and really worrying about the way I look. At first I thought I was just like most 18 year old teenage girls who are influenced by the media but I slowly began to realise my picking was associated with whether I was stressed or upset. I will literally sit for hours on end and pick. I will use tweezers, my nails when I had them, anything. I then try to cover my supposed perceived flaws (which I guess aren't really there, I just obsess) with makeup and I just feel horrible and then stare at my mirror despising myself or pick again. Additionally, I also bite my nails and skin around my nails-all of these are extremely painful at times when writing, typing or even when I used to hold my boyfriends hand, as my skin was raw (but of course I would be too embarrassed to admit any of these and with exams approaching I guess I just have to suffer the pain and wear plasters).



Anyways, I've finally decided it's time to change. I have decided to seek help in the next few months. I have decided to actively stop and think when I am doing it (as normally it just happens and I can't stop). I have decided I am going to research, read BDD posts on here and try to stop this. I have also made some relationship changes so I can concentrate on myself and my ex-boyfriend can concentrate on his OCD (what I hope happens).

I'm new to this, so I guess this will just be an every couple of days update or maybe weekly update on here of my progress. I guess also I'm questioning whether I do have BDD as I think maybe I do, but want to seek professional advice regarding this.

Any advice, opinions or your own experiences of BDD would be much appreciated though, thanks :original:

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  • 2 weeks later...

What you have specifically is called Compulsive Skin Picking Disorder or as I know it as Dermatillomania. For advice, I'd trust OCDUK for that, they are informative on these issues. Here is their site info for you disorder : http://www.ocduk.org/compulsive-skin-picking. As for personal experiences, I have had this for around 2 decades. Unfortunately, I've not found a magic cure yet but there can be some things that could alleviate your symptoms. Try carrying around a stress ball with you and keep it in your hands. By keeping your hands busy you have no way to harm. I see also you use instruments to pick, immediately get rid of them, or at very least make them very inaccessible. By having them at hand, you encourage that behaviour. Finally, be very aware of your movement, it is so easy to not pay attention and then boom you have another wound. Also, keep a tally on your picking. Write in a book what you do and when. By making yourself more aware of you symptoms you can have an easier time combating them. As for my own experiences, yeah I have pretty much went through what you've went through and a lot more. From the sounds of it you are most certainty a sufferer, funny thing is when I decided to figure out what I had and I found out about Dermatillomania, I could basically be the definition for the damn thing lol. I did not get diagnosed by a doctor either, and I went to them a lot. Nail biting isn't my thing though, I use nails as my choice of 'instrument'. Yeah, you'll feel horrible for doing it, it goes with the territory, but try and concentrate on the skin picking itself and not their side effects. Get it at its source, then you remove its symptoms, kind of like a weed.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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