Skin Picking Exposures: How to Target Body Based Repetitive Behaviors
Skin-picking is a close cousin of OCD, and falls into the category of Body Based Repetitive Behaviors. As with all physical compulsions, the key is to provoke the desire to pick and repeat the common situations where picking occurs, but then delay or resist the completion of the act.
Here are some common exposures for Skin Picking that can be done in vivo:
If picking occurs in front of a mirror, the therapist will have a highly magnified, lighted up mirror. Clients must gaze deeply into the mirror and examine pores, sit with the urge to pick, and then not engage in the behavior.
Placing a finger at the zone of common picking, then set a timer for 5 minutes to resist the behavior.
Watching videos of acne, while manipulating a sensory substitution object, such as rubber bands, bubble wrap, fidgets, etc.
In addition, I encourage my clients to discern where picking occurs (known as “high risk areas”) and then create a plan of Environment Modification.
Ideas for modifying the places where picking occurs include:
Soaping up the mirrors
Rearranging furniture to interrupt patterns of sitting and picking
Removing light bulbs from places of high picking behavior
Wearing gloves while sleeping
And finally, some skin picking can be curtailed by creating physical barriers between an individual and their skin. Potential impediments can be bandages (including enormous bandages covering large segments of skin) or heavy lotion (to impede ease of extractions).
Contact Kairos Wellness Collective for help, or more information.
