Is Skin Picking a form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?
Once examined closely, the relation between CSP and OCD becomes clearer. People suffering from CSP (compulsive skin picking) know, even as they are doing it, that they are doing something that is certain to be painful and self-defeating. One very tragic and equally confusing aspect of compulsive skin picking is that the subject finds comfort, pleasure, or emotional release in the very act of causing him- or herself pain. While knowing that the behavior is one that really needs to be stopped or avoided, the subject continues the behavior nevertheless. The subject often understands that his or her obsessive picking is something to hide, that it’s not what other people normally do. The shame generated by the behavior only exacerbates the underlying emotional turmoil that leads to the behavior in the first place. The vicious cycle of self-destructive behavior that follows is a hallmark of the OCD skin picking syndrome that is often a symptom of more insidious psychological trauma. The psyc
