I apologize for the ads in this article, but I wanted to repost it, and the only way I could do so without it costing me money was to post it with ads. This is an OCD spectrum disorder I've suffered from for as long as I can remember. When I was younger, it was a lot worse. I mostly pick at my fingers, but occasionally, I get what I think of as "hot spots" - there's a spot on the bridge of my nose, a spot in the middle of my spine, and another on the top of my scalp. When I was a kid, the one on the top of my head became a severe problem - not healthwise, but just the fact that I wouldn't stop picking at it and for several years, I had a pretty permanent sore on the top of my head. I was never as severe as the person in the picture in the article below...but I am sometimes ashamed of my fingers.
I don't really know how to explain why I do it, other than with my fingers it's almost an unconscious habit; sometimes I don't even realize I do it. My husband has told me that I've sometimes done it while sleeping, so who knows. There are times, though, where I know exactly what I'm doing and don't care that I'm doing it. This is when spots like the one on my spine or the top of my head or the bridge of my nose are "hot spots" and I'll drive a fingernail into that spot. This is the part I don't really know how to explain or describe - I've tried to figure it out for years. Is it the pain? It's definitely a compulsion - at the time, I NEED to push my fingernail into that spot hard, and then I feel relieved.
I know it's OCD, but in trying to figure out why I do it, I guess I never really connected it with some of the things I went through as a kid. Is it a reaction to being hurt? Is it me punishing myself for something? Or am I just trying to distract myself from something else? I wonder if some of the things I feel when I do it are similar to what people who cut feel when they're cutting.
I did learn several years ago that skin-picking and hair-twirling (which I also do) often go hand-in-hand, and a lot of people who do one also do the other. Part of me wants to stop, part of me doesn't care. I'm still here, so it could be a whole lot worse:)
Anyway, I thought this article was interesting.
Childhood Trauma Leading To Compulsive Skin Picking
As a child, from the age of about ten, my brother ( three years older than me) never called me by my name, but always referred to me as ‘Scabby' or ‘The Scab'. When, at age and eleven, I joined him at secondary school (Watford Grammar School for Boys, Hertfordshire, UK, just in case anyone's remotely…
