Body focused behavior

I pick the skin around my fingernails. I have found that when I take the time to go get a manicure I’m more determined to not “ruin” it by picking. I want my hands to look nice and get my money’s worth.

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It's not unusual for BFRBs like skin picking to flare up when anxiety is your personal life is particularly strong. It's certainly something I've seen others report and I find it starkly obvious in my own recovery journey. Be kind to yourself if you're finding you just don't have enough 'willpower' (its not exactly willpower you need but you know what I mean! 😄) to kick the habit during this period of high anxiety. It will almost certainly become easier to stop picking once you're through this most traumatic patch. It feels like largely the same bit of the brain that gets temporarily messed up during both obsessive thoughts and obsessive skin-picking, so when one is bad, the other often is too. Two tips for things I'm having success with in kicking my dermatillomania right now: 1) The exact right 'fidget toy' that mimics the exact sensation of picking. It's taken me literal years to find this, as generic fidget spinners etc just didn't seem to help much. But I found a shop on Etsy that sells cute little glass and plastic beads melted into a rubbery/playdough type substance. ITS re-usable too, you just re-make it in the microwave. The mimicked feeling of picking a cute heart-shaped bead or sequin out of the substance feels EXACTLY like the 'itch' dermatillomsnia scratches. I tried keeping it in my hand and reaching for cute beads whilst watching TV instead of allowing my hands to wander, and the sensation of relief and satisfaction at having something to harmlessly 'pick' was UNREAL. 2) Getting one specific region of my body completely clear, keeping it clear, taking maintenance photos as proof, then trying to add a second region of the body. If you haven't got enough strength/energy/dedicated focused time to quit cold turkey, could you try continuing to pick certain areas, but letting one completely Heal? Even healing one hand whilst picking the other? I've managed to get one large area to a completely healed state and let the scars fade, and moisturised and cared for the skin, and the photos of the new clear skin are VERY motivating. Now I tell myself if I can do it for that one area, I can do it for a second too 💪