I was recently rummaging through my folder of notes I kept from my heavy recovery time – the five months I spent in 2010 attending the Saturday afternoon therapy group for skin pickers and hair pullers at the OCD Center of Los Angeles – and I found this list of things that help me. I…
DetailsMany of us notice our skin picking, hair pulling or nail biting becomes worse in the week or so before our menstrual periods. We might feel completely out of control and not like ourselves. It may even seem like everything bad that happens in our lives happens in that one week or so every month.…
Details
“Thank you so much for your wonderful program for skin picking. You have given me back the gift of hope, something I haven’t had for almost 30 years. I’m now picking much less, and my picking urges, anxiety and depression are greatly reduced. As a bonus, I’ve lost 20 pounds, easily. You’ve provided me with tools which…
Details
February brings Valentine’s Day, the holiday celebrating love. More topical than romantic love though, for our purpose, is self love. But self love can seem like an abstract far-away concept. Or maybe even a chore. An attitude you know you’re “supposed to have”, something you “should do”, or a way you’re “supposed to be”. Self acceptance…
Details
Skin picking is now finally included in the recently revised Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) of the American Psychiatric Association, as a disorder in the chapter on Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders. Skin picking disorder affects far too many people for it to have gone officially unrecognized for this long. Perhaps now there will begin to…
Details
Ah, the stress of modern life. Do you notice how it manifests in your body and causes you to have greater urges to pick your skin, pull your hair or bite your nails? Very often physical or emotional stress triggers the tendon guard reflex, whose purpose is to ready us to fight, freeze or flight…
DetailsNexcare by 3M makes this fantastic product that is very useful for skin pickers trying to stop. It’s called Tegaderm transparent dressing – a bandage for wound care, but rather than being Band-Aid-like, it’s like a clear breathable sticker that you can wear for up to a week. It’s ideal for breaking the habit of…
Details
