Skin Picking Support

Learn how BFRB Awareness Week came to be and why awareness for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRBs) is needed. Community members share their inspiring stories of hope, resiliency, and recovery, along with why #BFRBweek is important and what it means to them.

Not all access to mental health resources is built equally. And for people of color, access to resources for body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs) does not come as easily as you might think or hope. For the most part, even BFRB organizations and groups with a special focus on people of color have gotten a welcome and appreciative reception. People are glad to have a place that recognizes their unique struggles.

Finding help for BFRBs, such hair pulling and skin picking, can be difficult if you do not live in the USA. Learn about the seven ways you can begin your road to recovery.

Before I had the chance to appear on The Doctors and receive twelve weeks of therapy for my skin picking, I heard about varied levels of success those with trichotillomania had using the dietary supplement, N-Acetylcysteine (NAC). At the time, Dr. Jon E. Grant had only completed a trichotillomania trial because excoriation disorder was not a diagnosable condition before the DSM-5 was released in 2013.

From dermatological issues to other mental health afflictions, excoriation disorder can be misdiagnosed as many conditions before being properly addressed and treated.

When celebrities talk about skin picking, their platform brings much-needed awareness for excoriation disorder and other body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs). Many of these influential figures have come out with their struggle, helping to shed stigma and reaching many who still suffer in silence and shame.

Coaching professions such as life, holistic, financial, health, quantum, etc., can assist people looking to improve their overall wellness or reach their next goal in life. While searching for help with your excoriation disorder, you may come across a Skin Picking Coach- but can they treat you for what the average mental health professional is not trained to? Are there any out there who are actually qualified to help you manage such a complex compulsion?

PickFix™ is an essential oil/ serum marketed to people who have a “nasty habit” of picking their skin for $28 USD/ $48 CDN. The choice of words presented on Carter + Jane’s website shames potential customers by stigmatizing the results of an anxious behavior. Immediately my alarm bells go off as people with excoriation disorder are being targeted and offered hope that this product will mysteriously manage the compulsive nature behind their body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB).

In learning about Acceptance-Commitment Therapy (ACT) as it relates to excoriation disorder, I had to experience how intense an urge was in order get through it, including recognizing physical reactions to finding or resisting an urge. With my teeth clenched, when I held back on this urge I also felt a hollowness in my chest.

Despite being in recovery from dermatillomania since 2015 with a few minor blips along the way, I wasn’t sure what to expect from my skin picking disorder when I became pregnant in May of 2019. With body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs) having links to hormones I prepared myself that my recovery could waver during pregnancy.