Pathological skin picking (PSP) is a rather frequent but yet underrecognized impulse control disorder at the crossroads of dermatology, psychology, and psychiatry. The present pilot study assessed the feasibility and efficacy of self-help interventions in the disorder. Habit reversal training (HRT), the current treatment-of-choice intervention, was tested against a newly developed technique ent...

Self-injurious skin picking is characterized by repetitive, ritualistic, or impulsive skin manipulation that results in tissue damage. It occurs in the absence of an underlying dermatologic condition and causes significant distress or impairment in daily functioning. The present article reviews the clinical characteristics of self-injurious skin picking, methods for assessing this problem, and ...

Pathological skin picking (SP) is a strongly impairing condition characterized by repetitive picking behaviors resulting in significant tissue damage and distress. Recent research suggested the presence of different subtypes of SP. No study has investigated which personality traits could be specifically associated with different subtypes. In a community sample (N=285, 71.20% females, mean age =...

Skin picking (excoriation) disorder is the recurrent excoriation of one's own skin, resulting in noticeable skin damage. People pick their skin for different reasons. For the majority of patients, first skin picking is associated with a history of childhood abuse and personal problems. Subjects who moderately to severely cause injurious self-harm are more likely to have a history of exposure to...

INTRODUCTION Compulsive skin picking, being part of the broader category of impulse control disorders, is considered a residual diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision. It is characterized by excessive scratching or picking of normal skin, or skin with minor surface irregularities, and occurs in 2% of patients attending dermatology c...

Although trichotillomania (TTM), skin picking (SP), and nail biting (NB) have been receiving growing scientific attention, the question as to whether these disorders can be regarded as separate entities or they are different manifestations of the same underlying tendency is unclear. Data were collected online in a community survey, yielding a sample of 2705 participants (66% women, mean age: 29...

This study examined the outcomes of a competing activities intervention to decrease skin picking exhibited by a 9-year-old student with comorbid diagnoses. Results of an ABCBAB design revealed that the use of student-selected manipulatives resulted in reduced skin picking.