Excoriation Research Paper

Excoriation Disorder Skin picking is a disorder that is often overlooked. Many people don’t recognize it as such and therefore, the victims of this disorder do not realize what it is and go without help. I am going to explain what defines this disorder and shed some light on how real it really is. You may be wondering what on earth skin picking is. There are a few names this disorder can be recognized as, such as Excoriation or Dermatillomania disorder. This and Trichotillomania are also known as body focused repetitive behavior disorders. (Excoriation is defined by scratches on the skin.) Skin picking is both neurotic and pathological, so basically it is a compulsive mental illness. People with this disorder constantly fight the urge to

The Handbook of Forensic Psychology talks about repetitive self-mutilation. These patients don’t necessarily pick their skin, but the before and after effects are more-or less the same, claiming “The behavior is not suicidal and not a response to psychotic experiences. It has much in common with trichotillomania and some forms of nail biting and skin picking.” So basically, not everyone who self-mutilates is a skin picker and not every skin picker is a self-mutilator; depending on the person, it may be a bit of both. The point is that yes, they have some symptoms in

When I get the urge, there is often no fighting it; I find myself in front of a mirror, popping pimples, squeezing blackheads and peeling away new scabs with a pair of tweezers. I have even been known to use a sewing needle or safety pin. By the time I come to, sometimes up to thirty minutes has gone by and now my face is bleeding- and sometimes it takes a while to stop. After the cuts heal, they form scabs- GREAT! Now, I feel like I don’t want to be walking around with scabs all over my face, so I pick them off and I’m bleeding again. In order to hide the fresh wounds, I cake a bunch of makeup on my face. Sometimes it makes me feel better; other times it makes me feel even worse, because I know it looks like I tried to cover up the disaster that is my face. My face is not the only body part that suffers; I also pick at my arms, chest, legs and sometimes more personal areas. I have been doing this since I was nine and my body is riddled with scars; mainly on my face and arms. Because of my repetitive skin picking I now and forever carry MRSA, which is a deadly form of staph infection. I have had to have antibiotics three times for this. One infection got so bad that my skin was dying and turning black and the red line of death started to crawl its way to my heart; this could have been a fatality- all because I picked my arm. It is very real- and I have had it for 15 years and only this year realized