hey i’m not sure the title is accurate but i couldn’t think of anything better
basically i’ve been struggling with skin picking for my entire life
it started small
picking some overhangs and scans around my nails at 6
nothing too serious
as years went by it evolved into pretty severe skin picking, where i wasn’t able to go a day without making a lesion
and recently (like in the past year) the habit developed into full blown dermatilomania
i keep on picking to the point where my lesions can’t heal properly
the worst of it is i started picking skin on my heels to the point where i can’t walk properly anymore and when i do it causes me a lot of pain
it catches up to me in the evening when i’m bored
i’ve been advised to “occupy my hands with something” but what nobody seems to get is that it’s something i do absentmindedly i’m not sure what to do anymore
does anyone have similar experience or am i beyond help at this point ?
have a nice day
hi, thanks for reply that’s what i was afraid of
to be honest i started medical treatment with antidepressants around 3 years ago, 2.5 of which i spent speedrunning the entire pharmacy lmao in June this year i changed doctors and finally got on track (with venlafaxine and mirtazapine)
on top of that i started therapy in September i’ll try to bring up the skin picking again
i talked about this issue with my therapist earlier but despite my efforts i always end up relapsing so yeah thank you for thorough reply have a nice day
Also if you haven’t heard the medical term for this yet, it’s called dermatillomania, if it helps you to put a name to it.
Skin picking can show up from other conditions such as OCD mentioned above, anxiety, and also ADHD. Try again to raise the issue with your therapist. If they are dismissive, find a new therapist. Sometimes it takes trying on a few therapists to find one who clicks with you and can be helpful.