If you’ve ever wondered what that annoying condition that makes you pick and nick and scratch and claw at your skin is called—here you go: Dermdatillomania. Most people call it the skin-picking disorder or excoriation disorder. Every 1 in 20 people has it, and it’s tagged under compulsive behaviors known as the BFRBs: the Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors.
People who have this disorder have the unstoppable compulsion to scratch or pick at their skin with fingernails or sharp tools such as pencil nibs and scissors. The result is wounds and scars that can last a lifetime.
The Consequences of Skin Picking
It’s not just the ointments and band-aids and physical scarring—there’s more. The lesser-known side-effect of the condition is the psychological side of it all. People with the condition also have scarred skin, and people with scarred skin are low on the self-esteem scale. The skin is the outer-most layer of our “selves,” and if it’s affected, we tend to become deeply damaged.
Consequently, people with this condition usually end up as anti-social and prefer isolation that is borne entirely out of shame. The shame is such that people don’t even seek treatment—they’re too scared to tell another soul in the world of what they’ve done to themselves.
The DSM-V classifies the disorder as an obsessive-compulsive disorder. It’s relatively harmless and is most likely triggered by trauma.
How Hypnosis Helps
It goes without saying that skin picking is a widespread and largely problematic disorder that extends to mental well-being. However, no matter how hard some people try, they can’t bring themselves to stop picking at their skins. No matter how strong their resolve and how resolute they are, they can just not stop.
This is where hypnosis comes in.
A trained hypnotist or hypnotherapist can induce a state of trance in you. This is a highly suggestive state that allows you to be in deeper touch with yourself. The outside world becomes irrelevant, immaterial. Your body becomes an appendage.
All that you’re focused on in such a state is your inner self, your essence. While in your normal life, you might not even notice that you’re harming yourself. The scratched flesh, the blood, the scabs—they pass your notice.
But when you’re aware of yourself in a heightened state such as in a trance, you’re more open to suggestion. The fact that your compulsive and involuntary behavior is leading to discontent and issues in your life looms larger than life in such a state. As a result, you readily accept the resolution to stop.
And stop you do.
More from Rekha
Individuals with Dermdatillomania and other disorders such as ADHD have reported positive results and marked decrease in their skin picking habits after hypnotherapy at Blossom Hypnosis. You, too, can try hypnosis for the condition.
Get a free consultation from certified hypnotist Rekha Shrivastava today. She practices in Pittsford and Rochester, NY and offers Skype sessions as well.
Sources:
https://dhss.delaware.gov/dsamh/files/si2013_dsm5foraddictionsmhandcriminaljustice.pdf
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