I've had a problem with skin picking for several years now, but I've just thought about it as a bad habit until I recently found out it's actually a psychiatric condition. The picking hasn't only left me with damaged skin, it's also led to neck pain and head aches, because of bending over for long periods of time. I recently had a doctor asking me about my rash (went to see the doctor for something completely different), and in my embarrasment I just said it was due to allergies.

I find it so hard to quit doing this, since my "normal distraction methods" don't work. I'm able to pick my skin even if I watch TV, and I'm able to scratch my skin while I read. It's also very time consuming and disturbs my sleep, since I nearly every night get caught up in picking and lose track of time, so when I finally get to bed, I can't get enough sleep before I have to get up and go to work. It also makes it hard to wear some of the clothes I would like to wear, especially now in the summer, since I want to cover up all the red marks on my skin.

I'm in therapy for eating disorders, depression, and panic disorder, but I've never told my therapist about this behaviour, since I'm quite ashamed of it, and I had no idea it was classified as a psychiatric disorder.

Does anyone have any tips on how to keep myself from constantly picking my skin? It's really affected my everday life for the past couple of years, and I can't seem to stop.