Recently I got an email from ocdla (the OCD center of Los Angeles), as I’m subscribed to their newsletter. I was surprised, but more than that happy, to read in that letter that Compulsive Skin Picking was added to the DSM-5 last May (more precisely May 18 2013). I was caught a bit off guard, since I haven’t been on top of the news lately…

To those who don’t know, the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) is the so called “bible” of the mental health professionals. It lists and classifies all the mental disorders. DSM-4 was the outdated version of the manual, published way back in the last century. As skin picking got more and more recognition, there were those who pushed towards its addition to the DSM. There was reluctance, mainly due to two reasons. One is that the disorder might be simply a symptom of some other underlying disorder. The second reason is that it might be viewed simply as a bad habit. However it was clear (at least to me) that it deserves to become “official”. A bit more than an year ago I even asked our readers to support the addition of skin picking to the new version of DSM. Looks like our wish has been answered. It was decided to add the disorder to DSM-5, due to substantial literature on the subject, its prevalence in the population, and abilities to diagnose and treat it.

The skin picking disorder is listed as Excoriation (Skin Picking) Disorder in the manual. It is listed under the section of “Obsessive compulsive and related disorders”. The group includes other disorders such as the scope of OCD, BDD, trichotillomania and hoarding (which is also a new addition to the DSM-5).

Another interesting piece of info I dug out while researching this event: Angela Hartlin got interviewed by Canadian Press on the occasion of the DSM-5 addition. The interview got syndicated to more than 20 publications ! Good work Angie. Ps if you don’t know her blog, take a look. Good stuff there. That’s all for now, hoping to keep you more frequently posted in the future.