I deal with excoriation disorder/dermatillomania where I constantly feel the need to pick at my skin/squeeze/get out any content beneath the surface of my face via bumps/pores. I've actually never really had much acne, but due to the damage I've done to my own skin, it almost looks like I have acne scars. I mostly do it in the morning and at night when I'm in the bathroom/ in front of a mirror and although I'm aware it's harmful and can see the repercussions and red splotchy cuts on my face after, I'm having a hard time controlling it. Does anyone face a similar experience with excoriation disorder? If so, any tips or strategies I should try?

So I’m 16 years old, currently going through my sophomore year of highschool. I’ve recently quit nicotine and weed after chronic use for about 4 years (has affected my development extremely). I quit because I wanted a better life for myself because I knew that I was using nicotine and weed for short term happiness and long term made me very depressed about this life. I was also experiencing trouble concentrating on simple tasks and what I wanted to do currently in my life. Which was learning about life and having more knowledge about life in general so i could feel more comfortable and happy in the future. So I quit nicotine I thought I was going to be able to overcome it and be more comfortable with myself knowing that I’m not in a constant loop of short term happiness, long term making me less happy overall. Although I have quit nicotine and haven’t touched it in about 3 weeks I expected to have some major withdrawals because I’m still in adolescence and used nicotine about everyday for 4 years. Sorry I’m rambling about this but through those years of always suppressing my anxiety with nicotine when anything came up that triggered it. I started noticing that on vacation in very stressful moments like at the airport and there were people around me when using the bathroom I felt as though it was nearly impossible to go but after sometime I eventually went and shrugged it off. Now that I’ve quit though I’m my 4th week it’s almost like my brain really latched onto that fear of not being able to go around people publicly (paruresis shy bladder syndrome) and that’s also what addiction does to you I’ve acknowledged. But when I started coming home from school I started thinking about not being able to pee more and more to the point i haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since which now every time i feel a slight trigger of having to use the bathroom i start obsessing over it like everything I would try and do that i usually do my brain would draw me away from it and go back to the fear of not being able to go which created a lot of anxiety and thoughts like “would if im not able to stop going” which made me think about it more and more I would just wake up with that thought in my head each day to the point where i was really thinking about killing my self because I thought i would have such a better life without nicotine and weed but ultimately made me feel like i was going crazy and I really wanted to go back to vaping and weed but i knew that this was the cycle of addiction and that i may have a more underlying problem here i need to overcome somatic ocd. I haven’t been diagnosed with it yet and I know a lot of people go through a cycle of self diagnosing. But as I’ve slowly started to mentally figure out ways to get through this obsession over peeing and fight it, it’s like my brain is now trying to look for a new bodily sensation to obsess over. My breathing. I noticed this as well while using that sometimes I would think about my breathing a little bit to much for example saying to myself am I breathing right should I breath this certain way would if I can’t stop thinking about it. But as I was thinking about that I just hit my vape talked to my brother about it and just slept it off. Now that I don’t have a vape I’ve had to go through these expierences but with it feeling more real and not really having something to run to, to suppress like my vape. I’m writing this today as I feel better to myself talking about it and opening up about it as I’m trying to not respond to this fear with anxiety and go throughout my days ignoring these obsessive thoughts leading to extreme anxiety that I don’t have anything to suppress it with anymore besides my own mental. Maybe someone here will have some more knowledge about it than I do and can give me some advice to try to keep me more motivated to deal with this ocd I feel as though I’m having so I don’t end up in a dark place. Thank you.

Not sure this is really OCD related, but does anyone else struggle with erythrophobia (the fear of blushing)? I struggle with it really bad and I feel like it’s kind of OCD related because the more you try not to think about something, the worse it gets. The more I try not to blush, the more I do. Anyway, today, I was at church which for some reason always gives me the most anxiety. I struggle with never knowing where to look which I know sounds stupid and I feel like I tend to avoid other people’s gazes. I’m always worried too that people can sense my anxiety. I accidentally made eye contact with the priest and a few other people and immediately started turning red. I looked down so as to hide it but I think people still noticed. I know that people aren’t really looking at me but I’ve always had the spotlight effect where I feel like they are always looking at me and judging me. After I blushed, I noticed 2 of the altar servers were whispering and laughing and they seemed to be looking at me. I felt so self-conscious the rest of the service. I hate erythrophobia and social anxiety and I know blushing might not seem like a big deal to those who don’t constantly struggle with it but it is to me and has ruined my life. Does anyone else struggle with this?

Hi everyone. <3 was wondering if anyone with experience dealing with excoriation/skin-picking disorder has some tips or tricks that have particularly helped them. Came to NOCD this week for help - first timer that would really like to be able to wear a tank top again 😅🫠 I did join the BFRB support group but unfortunately will be on a night shift this week when it meets . Thank you in advance ❤️