One of the things you can do is to try to be in touch with what's going on at the exact moment you start picking or pulling at yourself. In that moment, are you stressed? Are you upset? Bored?
I do the same thing and find that usually, I start picking at myself when for some reason I feel trapped, bored or needing to do something I don't want to do. Often if I listen to myself and figure out what's really bugging me, and give myself permission to take a break or do whatever it is that I am wanting to do in the moment, that I am less likely to sit around and pick at myself.
However, yes, this is an actual disorder, and you can get not only therapy to help it but medication. I might suggest a psychiatrist because they can help you get to the bottom of the mutilation and also prescribe medicine if they believe it would help. I am on a small dose of Abilify and I am absolutely amazed at the effect it has had on me. I feel halfway normal now -- I simply don't have the compulsion to pick at myself when I'm on it. I would never have believed that medicine would affect something like this behavior, but it certainly has.
I hope this helps some. Picking at ourselves is a tough thing to break but it can be done.
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Anon,
One of the things you can do is to try to be in touch with what's going on at the exact moment you start picking or pulling at yourself. In that moment, are you stressed? Are you upset? Bored?
I do the same thing and find that usually, I start picking at myself when for some reason I feel trapped, bored or needing to do something I don't want to do. Often if I listen to myself and figure out what's really bugging me, and give myself permission to take a break or do whatever it is that I am wanting to do in the moment, that I am less likely to sit around and pick at myself.
However, yes, this is an actual disorder, and you can get not only therapy to help it but medication. I might suggest a psychiatrist because they can help you get to the bottom of the mutilation and also prescribe medicine if they believe it would help. I am on a small dose of Abilify and I am absolutely amazed at the effect it has had on me. I feel halfway normal now -- I simply don't have the compulsion to pick at myself when I'm on it. I would never have believed that medicine would affect something like this behavior, but it certainly has.
I hope this helps some. Picking at ourselves is a tough thing to break but it can be done.
February 7, 2009 - 9:05amThis Comment
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