David's blog

Liz Atkin, a visual artist from the UK, contacted us a few days ago. She told us about her new exhibition, at the center of which is her experience with the skin picking disorder.

There's a short but rather interesting interview with Liz that took place a few days ago on the Woman's Hour radio show on BBC Radio 4. She talks about the way her art is influenced by compulsive picking, and on the other hand, how her art helps her to deal with the disorder. You can listen to the 8 min interview here

If you happen to be in the London area, you might be interested in visiting Liz's exhibition, which takes place at the Bethlem Gallery until the 15th of March. More details about the exhibition can be found on this Bethlem Blog Post.

I stumbled upon a new documentary in progress, called "Trichster", by director Jillian Corsie. It focuses mainly on Trich, and a bit on dermatillomania, judging by the trailer:

Towards the end of the production, the crew, together with 7 of the subjects of the film, are planning to attend the Trichotillomania Learning Center Conference in New York. You can help them attain this plan by donating here.

Planned release date is spring 2014.

Got an email from Angie about the Scars of Shame documentary, which we first wrote about almost two years ago.

To those of you who are not familiar with "Scars of Shame" - this is a documentary on skin picking by Lisa Heyden. This film is about a 24 year old Angie (Angela Hartlin) who suffers from skin picking.

After a long hiatus due to funding difficulties, production is now back on track, with the film being in last editing stages. Angie tells me that the expected release date is March 2013, which is great news.

Skin picking is still not official

Believe it or not, Skin Picking is still not considered as an "official" disorder. The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), is the “bible” of mental health professionals. It is published by the American Psychiatric Association, and is used to classify and diagnose mental disorders. Yet the Skin Picking disorder is not listed in the current version of the manual (DSM-4).

How you can help to make it official

The good news are that a new version, DSM-5, which is going to be published in 2013, might include Skin Picking as a disorder. The draft of DSM-5 lists skin picking under “Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders”. However, there’s still risk that it will be removed in the final version.

The draft of DSM-5 is opened for public comments until June 15th 2012. In order to make sure Skin Picking disorder makes it to the final version of the manual, you can do the following:

• Goto to http://dsm5.org
• Sign up for a username, and login
• Go to the Skin Picking page: http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevision/Pages/proposedrevision.aspx?rid=401
• Under the “Proposed Revision” tab, express your support for the proposed revision using the comment box at bottom of page.

Why is it important?

The DSM-5 publication is considered an event of huge importance in the mental health field. The last major revision was the fourth edition (DSM-4), published in 1994. If everyone makes a tiny effort of expressing support for the current draft regarding skin picking, it’ll help the disorder entering the new DSM-5, which will have a huge impact on the awareness of the disorder among mental health professionals and researchers. Let’s help make it happen!

We got an email from William Michael Davidson. He's a father of a girl who has Trichotillomania. He wrote a book called "The Dragon Who Pulled Her Scales". It a children's book telling a tale of a girl dragon who has a secret...

Long ago, in a world where dragons were the world's protectors, a beautiful dragon named Ellam lived in a cool, misty cave. Although Ellam liked to have fun with her friends, she had a secret. She liked to pull out her scales. Ellam was always careful to cover her body--she didn't want anyone to see that she was missing her scales. That is, until one day when Everwynn, the great king of dragons, needed someone for a special mission. Someone without scales.

Join Ellam on her exciting journey as she discovers that everyone's wounds have purpose, and the storms we travel through are part of a greater plan.

It was real heart warming to get the message from William about this book. I hope it will be a source of hope and encouragement for both kids and adults who struggle with trichotillomania or skin-picking.

You can get the book on Amazon.

And here's the facebook page of the book.

Our counseling service for skin picking patients has grown in popularity this year, partly due to the fact that people are becoming more aware of their problem and the options to treat it, and partly due to Dr. Ted Grossbart, who's a worldwide known expert at treating Dermatillomania, who leads our counseling program.

Due to several changes that occurred recently in our practice, we decided to alter our counseling price. From Dec 1st, 2011, the price per session of the counseling goes up from $180 to $210.

If you want to enjoy the previous price of $180/session, you can do that by enrolling prior to December 1st, 2011. Note that you will pay the lower price even for sessions that occur after Dec 1st, provided that you enrolled prior to Dec 1st.

ENROLL NOW >>

We've been contacted by an international feature news agency called Incredible Features (incrediblefeatures.com). They work with many national and international publications, including Time, Newsweek, Psychology Today, and others to cover unique and amazing stories that often don't get highlighted in the mainstream media.

They're presently looking to do a story about Dermatillomania and are in need of someone with a case of skin picking disorder to speak with about their experience.

As always, we welcome and endorse any effort directed at increasing CSP awareness. If you're willing to share your story, please contact Holly [at] incrediblefeatures.com

There are a lot of people suffering from compulsive skin picking who are looking for answers. Some find what they're looking for on Skinpick.com, other websites and forums dedicated to the topic, or books about skin piking. However a lot of people don't find exactly what they're looking for, due to the particularity of their case or any other reason. Plus, not all are ready or willing to get professional help for skin picking.

We decided to help by giving people the opportunity to ask questions about their condition and receive expert advice from a professional.

Hopefully we will help many people just by answering their question. A broader goal is to compile a list of Q&A, which on itself will be very informative and helpful not just to people who send in the questions, but to all readers.

Dr. Ted Grossbart, a known expert on CSP and related disorders, will answer your questions.

To submit a question please visit this page.

Answers will be posted about once a week on this page.

We received an email from Lisa, the director of scars of shame. It's a film about Angela, a 24 year old, struggling with Dermatillomania. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first attempt to increase awareness about the compulsive picking disorder using the film medium.

As I understand, they completed most of the filming, but there's still a lot of work to be done. They need funds to help them with production costs. In addition, they want to take Angela to San Francisco to be part of the TLC skin-picking conference and meet professionals who might be able to help her.

The film was funded by personal investment of the producer and director. You might be able to help them take Angela to the conference and finish the film. Click here to help

There's good chance you know Angela Hartlin (the author of FOREVER MARKED: A Dermatillomania Diary.

I came to know that a documentary is coming up, featuring Angela. You can view the trailer here.

When does it come out? And where? Angie, if you're reading this, we would all be happy to know these details.