Archive for Compulsive Skin Picking
The ABC’s of Dermatillomania / Compulsive Skin Picking
Not all skin picking is the same.
Everybody picks their skin sometimes, right? If you tell your friends or family that you pick your skin, many of them might say “Oh, I do that, too”. So, how do you know if your skin picking is severe enough to warrant a diagnosis of Dermatillomania, also known as Compulsive Skin Picking or Chronic Skin Picking (CSP)?
There are a variety of ways in which assessment of skin picking occurs. Self-assessment might occur by the person doing the skin picking when an individual realizes that he or she is causing scabs, scars, and/or infections. A person with Dermatillomania may also be aware that he or she is avoiding social situations, including work, school, and/or social functions such as weddings and parties. After all, those who have picked to the point of bleeding and scabbing may be too embarrassed to be seen by others who might judge them or ask questions about their skin. › Continue reading
Social Anxiety / Social Phobia: Alone With Witnesses – Part 2
In part one of this two-part series, we discussed the experience of the Social Anxiety sufferer. In part two, we examine how to treat this condition with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and how Social Anxiety relates to other Obsessive Compulsive Spectrum Disorders.
Treatment of Social Anxiety
Social Anxiety can be successfully treated with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
The most effective form of treatment for Social Anxiety is the same as in other Obsessive Compulsive Spectrum Disorders – Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). This is because, like the other disorders in the spectrum, Social Anxiety involves an obsession and a series of compulsions which form a cycle.
The fundamental obsession in Social Anxiety is the fear of being evaluated negatively. This generally includes fears of being rejected, as well as the fear of being singled out for humiliation and traumatized by emotional abuse from others. The primary compulsion in Social Anxiety is the phobic avoidance of social situations in which one fears rejection and/or humiliation (thus its synonym, Social Phobia).
It is tempting to look at avoidance as the absence of engaging in social behavior. However, avoidance is an overt physical and mental behavior, the primary goal of which is to reduce or eliminate anxiety. For the individual with Social Anxiety, the act of choosing not to go to the party thus serves the same function as the act of choosing to wash one’s hands serves for the individual with OCD. Further, those with Social Anxiety who are able to commit to a social interaction may find themselves escaping mentally in the process by spending their energy focusing on things other than the present situation. › Continue reading
Treatment of OCD and OC Spectrum Disorders in Children
“If I knew then what I know now.”
Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’ve found yourself saying the same thing at some point in your adult life. Nowhere is this more relevant than from the perspective of someone looking back on a childhood with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) or an Obsessive Compulsive Spectrum Disorder. When I meet a new client under 18, there is a powerful sense of traveling through time. I think, “If only I had someone like me to go back and talk to me when I was someone like this.” How much time might I have saved being able to resist repetitive, unnecessary rituals? How many more events, relationships, and simple moments of peace might I have been able to enjoy if only I had known what was really happening to me? › Continue reading
Trichotillomania, Compulsive Skin Picking, and the Resistor’s High
Jon Hershfield, MA, of the OCD Center of Los Angeles discusses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for the treatment of Trichotillomania (compulsive hair pulling) and Dermatillomania (compulsive skin picking, or CSP).
My wife and I recently became vegetarians. Well, she started using the word “vegetarian” to describe already never eating meat. For me it required more of a lifestyle change. I grew up on a small beef cattle farm, so I was used to the idea that you could grow meat the same way you grow vegetables. Throughout my life it always felt as if meat was how one defined the difference between a “snack” and a “meal”. So as part health experiment and part social consciousness attempt, I have given up meat for the time being.
At first I felt like I was denying myself something purely enjoyable. I’m used to it, I like it, so why don’t I just do it? Saying, “I want to change” or “I’m not happy with the consequences” doesn’t seem to be much comfort. However, nearly 4 months into this experiment, I now get what can only be described as a “resistor’s high” – an addictive satisfaction derived from choosing not to eat meat. › Continue reading
Proposed DSM-5 Changes for OCD and Anxiety Disorders
There have long been rumblings that the American Psychiatric Association (APA) was undertaking a thorough review of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV). The ostensible goal of such a review would be to create a more accurate and in-depth edition of the DSM, which was last updated in 1994.
After ten years of ongoing debate, the numerous APA work groups investigating potential revisions to various diagnoses and categories to be included in a planned fifth edition have presented their suggestions to the APA. Some of these changes are likely to be as controversial as current classifications in the DSM-IV, while others will pass barely noticed into the new DSM-5 (for example, the switch away from Roman numerals in the title). A number of these proposed changes directly impact conditions treated here at the OCD Center of Los Angeles. To wit: › Continue reading
New Trichotillomania Research
For individuals who suffer with Trichotillomania, the urge to pull their own hair can be overwhelming. While this might seem to many like a bizarre, self-destructive behavior, to those with Trichotillomania, this powerful urge can leave them with large bald spots on their scalp, no eyebrows, or no eyelashes.
Fortunately, researchers are starting to learn more about the origin of the disorder and possible treatments. One recent study conducted at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine in Minneapolis has uncovered a promising potential avenue for future treatment of this condition. › Continue reading
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