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hakunamatasha , 27 Aug 2010

Anxiety related face/chest picker

I am 22 years old and began this incredibly uncontrollable process of picking at my face and chest about 2 years ago. It came out of nowhere and started off as a normal kind of deal then slowly just got worse and worse. I never really understood why i did it but i noticed my mom has always done it and so does my brother. Every time i walk by any mirror in the house i stop and stick my face up close until i find something i need to "fix" and it seems like the only way i can avoid doing this is by picking somewhere else like on my chest or arms/shoulders. Sometimes i write on all of my mirrors in lipstick "DONT PICK, you are only making it worse!" but that doesnt work. I feel like im obsessing over my unattainable idea of perfection by obsessing over the tiniest flaws on my face and chest, not even flaws basically just my pores, and i notice the more i do it, the bigger and more noticeable my pores become, and its this never ending cycle. In the end i end up feeling uglier and worse than when i began but i just cant stop. To top it all off, every time i pick my family will notice the blotches on my face and tell me how bad my skin looks, and they tell me to just STOP, but when they bring it up it only makes me embarassed and frustrated until i want to do it even more...I just feel, hopeless, and ugly. I cant even upload any pictures of myself on my facebook without having to edit out my embarassing scars and marks, and when people tell me how pretty i am, i never believe them cause they dont know how i look without makeup. Its really hard at my age because i dont know anyone else who does this and i look at everyone elses beautiful skin and wonder if i will ever be that pretty. Today i finally decided to look up some information and im glad to see there are other people out there like me. I really need help and any suggestions or stories just to talk to people who understand. For those of you out there who feel all hope is lost, youre not alone!

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