Skin Picking and Hair Pulling Explained. What are Body Focused Repetitive Behaviors?
Dr. Tracey Marks・2 minutes read
Dr. Tracey Marks discusses hair pulling (trichotillomania) and skin picking (excoriation disorder), compulsive behaviors driven by anxiety and tension, often starting in adolescence and ranging from mild to severe cases with treatment options including therapy and alternative methods.
Insights
- Hair pulling (trichotillomania) and skin picking (excoriation disorder) are body focused repetitive behaviors that involve compulsive self-injury driven by anxiety or tension, leading to temporary relief but long-term distress and shame.
- Treatment for these behaviors includes recognizing triggers, distraction techniques, therapy like habit reversal training, and supplements like Inositol and N-acetylcysteine, as well as alternative therapies such as yoga, exercise, acupuncture, biofeedback, and hypnosis.
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Recent questions
What are body focused repetitive behaviors?
Body focused repetitive behaviors are compulsive actions that cause self-injury, such as hair pulling (trichotillomania) and skin picking (excoriation disorder).
What are the treatment options for body focused repetitive behaviors?
Treatment options for body focused repetitive behaviors include recognizing triggers, distraction techniques, therapy like habit reversal training and decoupling, and supplements like Inositol and N-acetylcysteine, along with alternative therapies such as yoga, exercise, acupuncture, biofeedback, and hypnosis.
What are the characteristics of trichotillomania?
Trichotillomania involves repeatedly pulling out hair, driven by anxiety, with specific hair types and textures, leading to temporary relief but causing distress and shame.
What is excoriation disorder?
Excoriation disorder is a body focused repetitive behavior that involves picking at the skin to create sores, often using fingernails or tools, leading to scabs being picked at.
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Summary
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Understanding and Treating Hair Pulling and Skin Picking
- Dr. Tracey Marks, a psychiatrist, discusses body focused repetitive behaviors, specifically hair pulling (trichotillomania) and skin picking (excoriation disorder), which are compulsive behaviors causing self-injury.
- Trichotillomania involves repeatedly pulling out hair, often strand by strand, driven by anxiety or tension, with a need for specific hair types and textures, leading to temporary relief but ultimately causing distress and shame.
- Skin picking mirrors hair pulling but involves picking skin to create sores, often using fingernails or tools, leading to scabs being picked at, with similar rituals and the behavior usually hidden from others.
- These behaviors typically start in adolescence, can be chronic, and range from mild cases with minimal impact to severe cases causing infections or scarring, with other repetitive behaviors like nail biting often accompanying them.
- Treatment options include recognizing triggers, distraction techniques, therapy like habit reversal training and decoupling, and supplements like Inositol and N-acetylcysteine, along with alternative therapies such as yoga, exercise, acupuncture, biofeedback, and hypnosis.
