Identifying as a Picker

Very few people know that I pick at my skin. Sometimes I envy other addicts, like smokers and alcoholics. Their addictions are so widespread and so well-known. You could tell someone that you're trying to quit smoking or that you're a recovering alcoholic and they'd know exactly what you're talking about. Not only that, but the person would probably offer you their whole-hearted support. Chances are that they've been or know someone close to them who's been in the same boat. I'm certain that if I confessed to someone I didn't know very well that I'm fighting an addiction to picking at my skin they'd be confounded.

From the number of websites that have cropped up related to skin picking, it seems like picking is more common than most people imagine, but I still think it's quite rare. The interesting thing about this is that picking requires no tools other than your fingers, and no materials other than something to pick at, unlike smoking and drinking, which require cigarettes and alcohol. I wish I could pour the object of my addiction down the sink, or break it up into little pieces, but that's another matter.

I guess one of the reasons that picking's not more widespread is that in addition to fingers, picking usually requires privacy and down-time. Many people have no privacy or down-time. Intense picking, unlike chain smoking and binge drinking, is not typically done socially - you probably won't be peer pressured into a long session of picking. Unlike some monkeys most of us don't sit around picking nits out of each other's hair. However, sometimes picking starts socially. I think what first got me started picking was a friend showing me how to push blackheads out of my nose. Around the same age, another friend taught me how to pull hairs out of my legs with tweezers. Luckily, I never evolved into a trichotillomaniac.

The bottom line is, I've only told my immediate family, a few friends who've come and gone in my life, and a few other people who've asked and who I thought I might as well be honest with about my skin picking. I don't know whether the other people I come into contact with suspect anything - I'm sure a few have wondered why I have red bumps on my skin. So far though, most have been either too polite or too self-absorbed to ask. I don't mind. It's not something I feel like discussing with people I don't know very well. The only reason I made this blog public rather than private was on the off chance another picker or someone trying to understand picking better might find it interesting or helpful.