If I have scabs or zits or anything, I have will pick at them. Sometimes I don't even realize that I'm doing it until it starts bleeding and I notice it on my hands. I can't stop myself even when I realize I do it. I've always done it too...but never really thought anything of it until recently. It bothers me because it scars my face and other parts of my body that I pick at. I wonder if anyone else has this problem.
I do as well, I blame it on the rashlike acne I had as a youth...always something to pick at or squeeze.
i don't touch my face. but scabs and whatever else i can squeeze and pop on my body is gonna get attention. scabs are "fun", they just keep growing back until its healed. i did it more as a child because i was always getting cut up - boys being boys
i actually enjoy popping zits. if i'm busy i'll just pop em and let em bleed. but if i get a nice fat one, i like to go in the bathroom and pop the puss on the mirror. and i've always been a scab picker as well. some people i know EAT their scabs. not my cup of tea.
mine i think i traced back to when i was maybe 4..i fell on a rock & cut open my knee, i was told i shoulda got stitches but didnt & a scar formed, i just kept peeling the scar away & everytime the scar tissue would be a bit less till finaly it healed with almost no scar...& i guess at 4 it seemed like just the right thing to do, so probly did it ever since but i've also read that it could be milder5 form of cutting, which i dont belive especialy since most cutters cut to stave off suicidal feelings & deal with pain they dont know how to cope with..& i never really had any issues like that (except the normal ones most teens have)...thats just something i read when i was trying to help someone stop cutting
Has anyone found any way to stop that nervous habit of picking? It's cool that we're all in the same boat. My roomie and I are looking into things that would help stop such nervous habits. I also pick my fingernails and toenails or clip them so short that they're below the quick and I know that's unhealthy.
It's hard to fix something when you don't know that you're even doing it. I don't think I do it as a form of cutting...simply because I don't even KNOW I'm doing it. If it was conscious, I could see the logic.
they gotta be popped or squeezed or picked or whatever. it's the unwritten rule of prehistoric man health care.
annie i wasnt suggesting it was..just that it can be for me i find that if i just find any lil lump of dead skin or scab i just swubconceisly wanna get rid of it or something, its not a conceise thing, & when i try to conceisly stop it it gets frustrating cause its hard to stop once u've gotten used to doing things a certain way its like second nature & if you are gonna stiop its like a deprogramming process & takes a lotta effort having someone u trust there all the time whos aware of the issue & who can gently point it out when your doing it could help, as long as it wasnt like naggingly
My partner tells me when I'm doing it, but I don't like it because I think he thinks that I can help it. Only I CAN'T help it. He can tell me all he wants that I'm doing it when I'm around him, but I'm not around him 24/7... It sucks. I hate it and wish I could really do something about it... But it's hard when you aren't doing it consciously...
i'm a cutter/burner; i started when i was younger with picking at anything with a scab. i know this doesn't pertain to you; my started as anxiety too. now i still pick but it escalated into self abuse. sometimes it does have ties to staving off suicidal feelings ,mostly it's a release of intense emotional pain. Peace.
I do it too, Annie, and I've heard things about picking being related to one of two things so far...OCD, or BDD[body dismorphic disorder] And even though I have been diagnosed with both, I testify to the belief that they are related. Picking to me, is just a stupid habit that doesn't have anything to do with a mental disorder---its like chewing your nails, or chewing gum, smoking cigarettes. Everyone has their clicks and ticks, habits and quirks... It doesn't mean you are sick with some sort of mental disorder. That's just my opinion though, maybe I'm wrong.
Oh, also, I know when I pick zits... I do it because it gives me physical relief. When I can feel a bump on my face all day, and they are usually mildly painful, sometimes itchy...when I pick it, it doesn't annoy me as much afterwards. And picking at scabs is something I think we've all done, at least when we were little---some grow out of the habit, and some dont. My pets have always licked a scabbed wound, bite at it, paw at it, whatever--- I think there is a lot of natural instinct behind it--- When something unfamiliar is on your skin, it's only natural to be irritated with it. Like, when you were little and lost a tooth, it felt weird, didnt it? And you probably played with the gap a lot. Anything abnormal from what you normally feel can drive you mentally nuts! Its even just like---when you get a new piercing or tattoo---Im sooo used to getting piercings, yet everytime I do, I find myself playing with said piercing for at least a week after I get it. I dont know, but thats my take. If youre picking at NOTHING---THEN, Id worry.
