Can you test yourself for dermatillomania?
Dermatillomania is one common name for what is now called excoriation (skin picking) disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5).
So one way to know if you have it is to read the diagnostic criteria in the DSM-5, and see if they apply to you. Here they are posed as questions:
Do you have dermatillomania according to the DSM-5?
1) Do you engage in frequent skin picking, resulting in lesions?
2) Have you tried to stop repeatedly?
3) Does it cause you significant distress or impair your ability to function?
4) Is your picking not caused by a substance (in other words, a drug) or a medical, perhaps dermatological condition?
5) Is your behavior not better explained by another psychiatric disorder?
Question 5 might be difficult to answer on your own, and these questions were designed for mental health professionals to diagnose you, however, overall I think these questions can act as a sort of self-administered dermatillomania test.
Also a note about question 4: Picking is sometimes caused by certain ADHD drugs, but when they are discontinued the picking often continues, so I would still call that dermatillomania. Except that I don’t actually prefer the name dermatillomania, as it makes you sound like you are “crazy” when you are not. I prefer the more descriptive terms “skin picking disorder” or even just “compulsive skin picking”.
The ABC’s of Dermatillomania
Another good method of “self diagnosis” is provided by the OCD Center of Los Angeles post on the ABC’s of Dermatillomania.
A: Something almost Anyone would pick. Examples include an obvious whitehead that is very easily “poppable”, a flake of dry skin hanging off you, or a scab that’s half-hanging off, that’s ready to be detached.
B: A Bump that only a person with a skin picking problem would pick. Maybe it’s a pimple, maybe a scab. Whatever it is, If left alone, a “bump” would go away or else become an “A”. If you are a compulsive skin picker, you tend to pick at “B”s, which makes them worse, and also tends to make them more of an “appealing target” for picking the next time.
C: C is for Create. Here the person picks at completely healthy, normal skin and as a consequence creates blemishes, sores or scabs.
I like the “ABC” method also because, as you recover, it can be used as a form of mindfulness and a way of knowing whether what you are doing is “ok”. If you can cultivate an awareness of what you are tempted to pick, are about to pick, or are picking, then you can label it mentally as an “A, B or C”. You might give yourself a green light for the “A,” remind yourself that a “C” pick is something to definitely stay away from, and that a “B” likewise only leads to more picking and worse looking skin.
ABC’s can be used as a way of daily monitoring your recovery or keeping track of picking in a way that’s different from monitoring time or intensity. It can be like grades at school. First your goal is fewer C’s, then fewer B’s. The more you work at it in a knowledgable way with persistence, the sooner you’ll get “straight A’s”.
Common sense two question dermatillomania test
Simpler than taking a test for dermatillomania is asking the two part question, “Do you pick your skin and does it cause you distress?” If the answers are “yes”, it may not really matter whether you officially qualify for having a skin picking disorder. You can work on it regardless.
A good place to start is to sign up for my free gift, which will tell you a) why you pick your skin and b) how to finally stop.
What do you think? Do you think you have dermatillomania? Please feel free to share and ask questions below.
Love and support,
Annette
I’m so tired . When I was little I watched my mom pick. I started in my early teenage years. First I would do it to de bride my skin during break outs however, through the years it got to be a stress reaction and now it’s a tick. And what makes it worse is that I do it before every major event or if I am excited about going somewhere. I have a horrible scar on the side of my face where I prop up my hand when driving and it breaks out all the time and now I can barely look at myself. My older kids are immune to it and don’t even say a word as my anger at myself spills out on them but, my two year old will catch me in the act and try to get my attention in order to distract me any way he can…bless his heart. He will point to my soars and ask what is that? I have isolated myself from everyone and can’t even talk to people during these events. I asked myself many times “could this be a curse, since my mom and gm a have the same issue” I even wondered if I am possessed because of the inability to stop myself most the time. I hate myself. I’m a great person but have distanced myself from everyone due to….picking. (i absolutely hate that word..it’s so hard for me to say it) It’s my baby’s 3rd bday party on Sunday and just this morning I had a bad episode . It was ok until I worked outside in backyard all afternoon.when I took the bandaid off it looks infected. Same spot as always I just made the edges wider and deeper. I’m 40 and my skin isn’t healing anymore like it used to. I am starting to look really bad from my side profile and want to find a procedure to smooth out this scar so that I can be rid of it for ever…yes my fingers are torn up also. I usually have fake nails but I’m in the middle of remodeling my home due to a unknown leak and work on the house which leaves my hands looking like a construction workers, I pick my cuticles and uneven nail
Thank you for sharing, Nicole. You deserve to get help for this, and you’ve done nothing for which you should hate yourself. I wish you much love and support, Annette
I can’t stop picking at my nails and cuticles. I’m 68 years old and I would love to say I’ve overcome this problem while I’m still alive. My mother was always nervous and she picks. Not to the degree that I do. Now my daughter and grandson pick too. I wore acrylic nails for years and that worked until I developed and allergy and broke out in itchy bumps from the chemicals. I tried gel on my nails but it’s too soft and I just pick it. If anyone has any tips or help for me- I’d love to hear it! My hands look and feel horrible!
I pick my lips on a daily basis, all the time. I enjoy doing it until it bleeds. I find it angers me when they bleed but I continue to pick it. People at school will then ask me questions as to why I pick my lips and they tell me to stop because my hands go red with blood. I genuinely do not see what is wrong with it. I am 15 and I have done this since I can remember-it may have started when I was about two or three because my parents were abusive to each other(not too badly but still abusive) Untill my mum moved out when I was 4. Sometimes when I’m stressed, I continuously scratch at my arms and legs till they scab the next morning. My mum says I need to stop but I genuinely enjoy it. I couldn’t care what I do to my lips, its normal and relaxing for me. It feels nice and I have gotten used to the pain it once caused me. However (especially when I scratch at my arms and legs), My mum continuously tells me to stop and that it is self-harm. My question is-does anyone feel like this, is this really self-harm and why is it a problem when I enjoy it?