FOREVER MARKED: A Dermatillomania Diary is a first hand account of a young woman, Angela, who suffers from a silenced illness. This is a ground-breaking memoir that describes her struggles, which include depression, anxiety, suicide, self-hate, isolation, but mainly dermatillomania… the skin picking disorder.
About
What started as a secretive online journal later became an eye-opening look into the life of someone with compulsive skin picking.
As a way to cope with her compulsion, Angela Hartlin began writing her innermost feelings in a raw and unfiltered private diary. She slowly opened it up to anonymous bloggers struggling with a variety of mental health conditions, and eventually decided to use it as a tool in spreading awareness for a condition that once led her to dark places so that others didn’t have to go through the distress she did in feeling alone.
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Release
FOREVER MARKED: A Dermatillomania Diary was released in December 2009 to raise awareness about skin picking and let others know they aren’t alone with their struggle. At the time, skin picking could not be clinically diagnosed, the former Trichotillomania Learning Center (now TLC Foundation for BFRBs) was the only non-profit for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRBs), and no one had spoken publicly about it on television until Angela debuted her memoir on CTV’s Live at 5.
Reviews
Media
As a staple of Angela’s advocacy, FOREVER MARKED: A Dermatillomania Diary has been mentioned in most of her appearances on television, podcasts, and newspapers.
Along with interviews in various outlets, FOREVER MARKED: A Dermatillomania Diary also appears in the documentary Scars of Shame, as well as in a Japanese re-enactment of Angela’s life.
It is also mentioned in Laura Barton’s book, Project Dermatillomania: The Stories Behind Our Scars by two contributors impacted by Angela’s advocacy.
Mixed Reception
While many people appreciate Angela’s efforts to bring attention to dermatillomania, some critics say that FOREVER MARKED is too heavy of a read and doesn’t offer hope in managing the disorder.
Angela has since gone into recovery from compulsive skin picking after appearing on The Doctors with Karen Pickett, LMFT, in 2015. She and Karen have co-authored the book EMBRACING DERMATILLOMANIA: Through Pain & Recovery, which details Angela’s step-by-step therapy and includes material to help readers navigate their excoriation disorder.
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