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4822967 tn?1367656696

PLEASE HELP ME HELP MY DAUGHTER dermatillomania

I have an extrememly beautiful looking daughter, everyone comments. She is 25 years old and has a history of mental health problems, anxiety, depression and ? bipolar. She is on epilim for the bipolar.  The huge problem she has which to date has had no help for as too ashamed, is picking.  She will spend up to two hours at a time in the bathroom with the door locked. She will make up all the excuses when you keep saying why are you still in there.  putting on a face mask, washing my hair, straightening my hair etc..... but when she comes out she has bleeding gouges all over her face and chest. She will stand in front of the mirror for up to two hours and just pick and pick at nothing. She then comes out in tears and tries to hide her face, its bleeding and she is crying, she has swellings all over her face by the time she is finished.  Today soemone accused her of being on speed or ice - apparently that causes people to do this too.  She only does it during periods of severe stress or anxiety.  Ltely thoght this anxiety and stress has been constant.  She says she sees a tiny blackhead and that sets her off and she just cant stop. She used to do this to the skin around her thumbs till they bled, she still does that too. Her face is getting some very deep scarring and its a tradgedy.  Three years ago she was modelling - aboslutely stunning looks.   Her appearance then causes deeper depression, stress and anxiety about what people are thinking of her face - viscious circle. Please help its breaking my heart
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Avatar universal
Hi I also have dermatillomania. I've had it since kindergarten and I am now 20 almost 21. I have scars up and down my body and even self inflicted scars. The reason why I separate some of my scars as self inflicted is because when I get to picking most of the time I do not know I am doing it I would wake up to bloody fingers and have to check my whole body to see where I did pick and see if it needed medical treatment and the other scars is because I hated how I looked... the reason why I am typing all of this is because although we do pick at our skin and hate it we do not mean to hurt the love ones we hold dear. I have learned to control the night time picking by wearing gloves and having my animals sleep with me to calm me down and I am still learning to control my picking during the day too..no meds have worked for me I have tried almost everything literally it was torture seeing people trying to fix me and only to see my mothers face when nothing worked... please don't put ur daughter on meds this is a psychological problem and she has to learn what her triggers are and coping skills and it will take time a lot of time because she will be retraining her mind so always be there for her and never punish her for picking my parents tried that and made me depressed and I went into a mental hospital and missed so much because of it. Your daughter and I CAN fight this disease! Also, drugs and alcohol DO make it worse when you are first learning how to control the picking btw!!!!
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I do not sleep with gloves anymore btw I learned to not pick at night
563773 tn?1374246539
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hello,
There are two major classes of therapy for dermatillomania: pharmacological and behavioral. Pharmacological treatment includes medicines like (1) SSRIs; (2) opioid antagonists; and (3) glutamatergic agents and behavior treatment includes include habit reversal training, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and acceptance-enhanced behavior therapy. You need to consult a psychiatrist for these treatment options.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.




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