I'm 22 years old and I have been picking since 8th grade. I've always had mild acne but now I'm not sure if I really have it or I create it from constantly touching and picking my face, back, chest and arms. I'm really not sure why I do this, my life isn't that bad. I do have stress like everyone else, but I should have this problem. I was in a beautiful relationship with a guy that I considered to be my best friend. I was never treated so well in my life. He really is my dream guy and while I was with him I felt like it was too good to be true. Turns out I was right. He recently told me that he needs to be alone. He was aware of my picking problem and tried to help me by telling me I'm beautiful or going into the bathroom and pulling me away from the mirror. Well, while he was breaking up with me one of the things that came up was my face picking. He didn't know how much longer he could take me attacking my face and then feeling depressed and angry with myself about what I did to my skin. My skin looks bad. While I was in high school, I didn't seem to notice the lasting effects my habit had on my skin. But recently I am noticing all of the scars. Even if I did quit and my face would clear up, I will still have all of those ugly scars. I don't blame my boyfriend. He has put up with this for 2 years now and it is a repetitive thing. I pick, my face looks terrible, I get depressed, I don't want to be seen in public, face starts to look better (because I have scratched all of the dead skin and scars off) but then I spend 1-2 hours destroying it again and the whole thing starts all over again. I am tempted to pick right now because I am so upset over my breakup, but I know that I should use this as a wake up call to finally get over this problem. I need help, but I cannot afford professional help right now. I'm hopping that the support of this forum can get me through this. I appreciate any comments you might have. Thanks
STOP PICKING - START LIVING
Luna_85 May 02, 2008