Samy,
I would talk to your T about it. I have a daughter who sometimes cuts herself. Behavior like cutting yourself or picking at scabs until it becomes a problem are called Self-Injury. The good news is that it is an attempt to handle your emotions. The injuries cause your brain to release endorphins which make you feel better. But it would be a lot better to find a different way to express your emotions than harming yourself and I bet your therapist could help you. I'm glad you felt safe asking about it here.

AG

We gots an insider girl who used to do some self-injury cutting. but this feels more like, hrm... an OCD thing. cuz i have some of those tendencies. but thanks for responding!
samy

Hey Samy-

You are VERY smart.

Of course, I'm Not a doctor but there is a problem involving skin picking that is related to OCD. It's called CSP- Chronic Skin Picking or dermatomania which is similar to tricholmania, which is chronic hair pulling.

I guess I will take the risk and even though it feels weird to disclose, I have this problem too with the skin thing. I didn't know it was a problem for years and only found out recently that it is. My therapist was totally awesome. I had tried to do research on it before i talked about it and was constantly lead to self injury sites that just didn't fit how I felt with it. Once I told my therapist from last year, she asked me like 10,000 questions (lol) and than she explained to me that this is CSP and it's a lot more related to OCD. It's a habit that is hard to stop and it can be treated with certain cognitive- behavioral therapies.. in particular something called habit reversal. I haven't yet quit completely but I have wanted to and I havent worked on it a whole lot however it's nice to understand it more. It's also good to know why I had so many issues with quitting despite trying and trying and trying to quit because it is similar to a compulssion and i often find myself doing it without any awareness of it. grrrr.

Anyways Samy, I just want you to know that I am pretty sure that your therapist will be completely understanding. For me, mine was and so was my psychiatrist. I know mine started with PTSD as a self soothing kind of thing and it's common enough. It doesn't make you a bad person.

I think te fact that you wantg to telll your therapist is a good thing because that means you know you need help with it just as I know I have hjad to have help with mine. It takes time as im sure you know with your OCD, how hard it is to change behaviors that you want to change but makes you feel blocked from changing it!

Anyways, wow i had much more to say omn this than I tghought but I felt I needed to say something even though typing sucks right now... .lol.

hugs safe samy and tell your therapist. It will work out well.

thanks. I will look up CSP. Actually, I am very smart HAHA! When I did an IQ test, for just me, i got about 165.
Samy

i once got a star on my homework...