Is anyone else here a "picker"?

[Nicolelovespugs]

I'll just start off by saying I've always been a nervous person.
I'm 27 years old now and I think my worry is really getting the best of me.

For the past i would say 7 years I have had a problem with "picking"
I think it's because of my worry and anxiety. I pick at things and have scars all over me. Mostly in places people can't see because I try so hard to hide it.
The scars are terrible and I feel like I'm constantly putting on bandaids and Neosporin. I try so hard to stop but it seems like once I get stressed out I just can't stop. I'm really ashamed and I'm sick of doing this to myself.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Any advice on how to stop this terrible behavior?

Thanks in advance!

[desiderata]

my mum does this really badly! shes on zoloftand the doctor told her its a side affect from this, are you on any meds? i was also told one that this is a way that people who are frustrated get there frustration out, very hard to stop once your in the habit!

[Nicolelovespugs]

I'm just on Xanax right now. I don't think it's a side effect. Just something I've done for a long time. I go through periods where I don't do it at all but then every now and then I get into the habit. The scars are terrible.
I'm going to talk to my therapist tomorrow about ways to stop this awful behavior.

[Velrose]

I never knew this was a condition until recently, and I always just thought I had really dirty habits. I bite my nails (until they bleed and there is quite literally almost nothing left) I am so ashamed of that...I hate showing anyone my hands. right now they aren't terrible, it's been a couple of weeks since I had a bad bout of biting them. I also pick at my scalp. I've made myself bleed this way, and all around my hair line is often red and raw. I don't know how to stop these things....

[Nicolelovespugs]

I am also a terrible nail biter. I have been since I was a small child.
I use to bite them until they bled. I still bite them badly but they don't look as bad as they used to. I also tend to pick at my nails and the area around them. I try not to do this too much though because I don't want people to see my hands looking so awful.

[desiderata]

i pick at my scalp as well! ive had like a sore jsut abouve my neck near the hairline for years, horrible! itchy all the time!

[Velrose]

Gyah it's so horrible, really. I catch myself doing it sometimes, and didn't even realize I had started. It's weird though, I don't pick at scabs, or anything else really... just scalp and bite my nails. I don't eat it either...have heard of people doing that too.

My poor scalp. Last month when I went to salon the stylist really laid into me about it. >_< She tried to tell me to start soaking my scalp around my hairline in conditioner to moisten it, butshe didn't realize I was picking at it without knowing, not because it was dry!

[Frazzle]

Hello, i just wanted to say that i pick too. it's really bad all over my face and chest and it's not helping my skin and i know that i can stop, because we all can and all do don't we? but the problem is not starting at all...and doing something else about it right? I figure that one day i'll get someone to encase my hands in blocks of wax and duck tape my mouth shut and i'd do it too if i didn't think it be too wierd and if i could get some one to feed me, but then again, what's weirder, picking at yourself or wanting to fix it? one day, people should create a boot camp where you can go to stop these sorts of things...

Just curios how many of you are girls?

[Velrose]

I'm a girl... and I wanna stop this because I don't realize I am doing it, and often times, it ends up so bad that I have made myself bleed. I had a bad bout of it last night and I chewed my nails to nothing. I had to go grocery shopping this morning and my fingers were so friggin sore pushing the cart around... >_<