Hello, everyone! I’m looking for some advice. I was recently diagnosed with OCD, which cleared up a lot of questions I had about myself over the years, and I was wondering if anyone had experienced my particular dilemma. (Content warning: discussions of unwanted skin peeling/mild self-harm) In the past, I was really addicted to self-harm, ie. cutting. I’m currently 1,180 days clean (Woohoo!) from it, which is super cool. On the other hand, I’ve been engaging in skin peeling behaviors for as long as I can remember. I never did it in the way that I cut because I got no real joy out of it. It felt like an itch I simply had to scratch, even if it left my feet bloody and in pain. I would spend hours just sitting and peeling with tweezers because my brain told me I had to. If I felt a single piece of dry skin, I wouldn’t be able to think of anything else because my foot had to feel “smooth.” I have tried a bunch of methods to stop like wearing socks and having my friends hide my tweezers, but that doesn’t stop me from getting massive amounts of anxiety when I feel a flake on my foot. If I don’t peel, I can hardly breathe. This was a pretty big catalyst for my OCD diagnosis, as my therapist recognized the behavior as compulsive and not a form of intentional self-harm. I don’t get joy out of it; it feels like I have to or everything is bad. It’s been impacting my relationship recently. My boyfriend loves me and doesn’t want me to hurt myself, but sometimes the feeling is so strong that I simply can’t stop. When he tells me to stop, I get aggravated because I feel like a) it’s not a big deal (even though it really is), and b) it feels like he “doesn’t understand.” Please do note that he is extremely patient with me and we do love each other a lot; he just doesn’t want me to hurt myself, and when I’m in that locked mindset, I feel like I have to. Do y’all have any experiences with this? Are there any tips for countering your compulsions and quieting the thoughts? How has your OCD impacted your relationships, and do you have ideas for good open communication? Any and all input is helpful; I appreciate it more than you know.