2023-07-16 03:08:22
HomeLifeHealth
Scratching and squeezing blemishes is often dismissed as a bad habit. But for some people there is more to it than that. Skin picking is a mental disorder. An affected person explains what this means for her.
Food – When things are stressful and everything in life is getting too much, Laura Michalski is drawn to the mirror. As soon as she notices a bump on her skin, she scratches or pinches it away.
Removing a pimple or scratching a wound is part of everyday life for most people. But for some people it develops into a compulsion that can become problematic. This is called skin picking, the specific mental illness is called dermatillomania. Laura Michalski suffers from mental illness.
Skin picking or dermatillomania: picking, squeezing, scratching – those affected cause serious skin damage
Plucking, squeezing, scratching: Dermatillomania is associated with repeated compulsive working on one’s own skin. Triggers can be conditions such as tension, fear or boredom or the perception of skin imperfections.
Those affected touch their skin several times a day with their fingernails and objects. This can lead to severe skin damage, scarring and infection.
Blemishes are particularly difficult in patients with dermatillomania. Popping and picking up pimples is often part of this. © private
Dermatillomania: “As a child, I used to work my fingertips and feet until they were sore”
“Even as a child I worked on my fingertips and feet until they were sore,” says the 26-year-old from Essen regarding dermatillomania. So much that she bleeds and is in pain.
In the course of puberty, Laura gets severe skin blemishes and the skin picking shifts to her face. The way to the magnifying mirror is part of her everyday life. “I spent at least half an hour a day removing pimples. It’s kind of a ritual,” she explains. After that, the skin was red and swollen.
Pimples and blemishes are annoying. However, they can be combated with natural means*.
Laura Michalski suffers from dermatillomania: shame, guilt, depressive symptoms and loss of control – “I’m ashamed of it.”
“Then I look like a crumble cake and I’m ashamed of it,” says the 26-year-old. Laura now finds make-up a burden, “but sometimes there’s no other way,” she says.
Laura often hurts her fingertips when she’s stressed. © private
The behavior is typical for the clinical picture, it serves to regulate emotions. In the short term, skin picking brings relief, but in the long term, it leads to shame, guilt, depressive symptoms, and loss of control.
Skin Picking: “I’m going to be upfront regarding it and say I’m hurting myself.”
Laura is currently working in a gym, her fingertips are sore. She suspects it’s the stress. “I get asked regarding my sore skin all the time. I’m open regarding it and saying I’m hurting myself.”
“But the constant questioning bothers me, even if it’s meant nicely,” explains the 26-year-old. “It puts a strain on me and makes me feel ashamed and withdrawn. Then I always try to tweak secretly because I feel like the members are watching me.”
Skin Picking: Dermatillomania as an outlet for stress relief like a “a stamp: mentally disturbed.”
After many years, Laura knows why she hurts herself. “I’m an incredibly nervous person. For me, skin picking is an outlet to reduce stress.” She faced the problem in psychotherapy. “I found out that my habit was a serious mental illness,” Laura recalls.
On the one hand, she made the information easier, “on the other hand, it was like a stamp: mentally disturbed.” In addition to therapy, hobbies such as weight training, painting or yoga help her. “I forget everything around me. Like when I squat in front of the mirror.”
Laura Michalski works on her skin when she is not feeling well mentally. For them it is an outlet. © private
“Criticism is painful for me”
Laura seems reflected, knows her personal problems and can classify them: “I function through compliments. Criticism is painful for me. Then I start to pinch,” says the 26-year-old.
Outsiders can hardly imagine how difficult it is for people with dermatillomania to resist the urge. “It’s easy to say, ‘Stop pinching or slapping your fingers. But that’s not it,” says Laura. This puts more pressure on them.
They endanger the physical well-being of many patients: the so-called widespread diseases. We reveal how often they occur* and what therapies are available.
There is a must. With the necessary strength. Because even if the pimple is out, you keep going.
Psychotherapist on skin picking: “It’s the nature of compulsion”
When the urge is so great that there is no option to act once morest it: “That is the essence of compulsion,” explains Helmut Faure. He is a qualified psychologist and psychological psychotherapist. He specializes in OCD, which includes skin picking. Laura was one of his patients.
The difference between a person who occasionally pops a pimple and a person with dermatillomania is that they feel obligated to do so. “There is a must. With the necessary strength. Because even when the pimple is out, you keep going.”
Compulsive Scratching and Picking: Skinpicking is more than a bad habit. © private
Almost any part of the body can be a target for skin picking – “Often the face becomes the target”
Almost any part of the body can be a target for skin picking. “Often the face becomes the target,” says Faure. Imperfections must then be removed. But particularly sensitive areas of the body can also be affected. “The compulsion can be extremely self-injurious. Some of those affected even work on the intimate area or the breasts.” Skin picking usually leads to significant redness and sores. In most cases, low self-esteem is also associated with the disease.
The objects of the compulsion are blackheads, loose patches of skin, small bumps, or blisters. “Any change in the body that goes beyond the smoothness of the skin. Everything that disturbs the supposed ideal of a pure body.”
The graduate psychologist knows: Patients are afraid of attracting negative attention with the skin changes. Her fear is also the driving force. Sometimes, according to Faure, the motive is deliberate self-harm. “Because a person thinks they are a bad person.”* kreiszeitung.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
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