Hair Pulling & Skin Picking Disorder
If you struggle with these types of urges, you understand the frustration of not being able to stop. At Kentuckiana Treatment Center for Anxiety & OCD, we provide evidence-based tools to dismantle and disrupt symptoms, helping you take back control of your health and your life. There is help for excoriation disorder and trichotillomania. Most of our patients — even those who’ve tried treatment before — see relief in as little as 16 sessions. Contact us at (270) 238-3566. We serve clients in Kentucky and Indiana.
Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors
Some psychological conditions are considered “related” to obsessive-compulsive disorder, but they’re not OCD. This is because they involve Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRBs). The repetition of these behaviors is what makes them look like OCD. In many cases, it’s not intrusive thoughts or obsessions that drive the behaviors. Most of the time, individuals don’t associate significant anxiety with their skin-picking (excoriation disorder) or hair-pulling (trichotillomania) habits. And nearly always, people have tried and tried again to “just stop.” But that didn’t work.
How To Stop Skin Picking & Hair Pulling
In some cases, the evidence of picking or pulling habits might be uncomfortably visible to other people. Bald spots or wounds and scars might eventually appear. But still, targeting BFRBs directly by trying to just stop picking or pulling doesn’t tend to work very well.
The evidence-based treatment for excoriation disorder and trichotillomania is what’s called habit reversal training. Habit reversal training focuses not on the habits but on their triggers. And while it might sound backward, pointing your energy toward managing triggers is shown to be far more effective than just trying to directly resist and prevent the behaviors.
SCAMP Management of Triggers
- First, we use the acronym SCAMP to identify triggers that involve the following: sensations, cognitions (thoughts), affect (emotions), movement, and place.
- The goal is to stop the BFRB before it starts because once it starts, it’s very difficult to stop.
- For example, if the BFRB is hair-pulling, we may realize the trigger occurs every evening while sitting in a favorite chair watching TV. We will then change something about the trigger in order to better prevent the behavior.
Ultimately, we’ll work to manage the triggers that we identify; and for most people, urges to pick or pull are predictably and significantly reduced as triggers are managed. We’ll outsmart the picking or pulling habit rather than out-muscle it.
Break Free From Compulsive Habits
Take back control of your health and life.
What We Treat
In addition to excoriation disorder and trichotillomania, we successfully treat the following diagnoses.
For more information about Kentuckiana, see our Who We Are page. And be sure to listen to our OCD Straight Talk podcast for the anxiety disorders community.
Why Choose Us
We get results — even for patients who’ve been in treatment for years.
We use evidence-based ERP treatment; most other therapists use talk therapy.
We teach you how to stop rumination, problematic behavior, and compulsion.
Our patients get better faster and usually stay better.
Hope for Excoriation Disorder & Trichotillomania
If you’ve been told to “just stop it” one too many times, take heart. There’s help for excoriation disorder and trichotillomania. You can beat it; come on, let’s go. Contact Kentuckiana at (270) 238-3566. We serve clients in Kentucky and Indiana.