Accepting My Skin Picking: Is This Really Recovery?
What if I stopped fighting my skin picking? What if I stopped begging for a cure? What if I stopped agonizing over and hating it? What if I just let it be? What if I accepted it? Those are...
The BFRB Community Teaches Me Everyday Confidence
Last Saturday, I was able to moderate a local Comic-Con Q+A panel. Years ago, it wouldn’t have been possible without a lot of shaking and shivering through the whole ordeal despite having prepared notes beforehand. But that weekend, I...
Trichotillomania Is What I Have, Not Who I Am
I am 24, and I’ve been pulling my hair for at least 16 years. When I was younger, I would twirl my hair into knots and then pull the ball of knotted hair out. In middle school, I didn’t...
Things I Wish I Had Been Told About Dermatillomania
Inspired by a blog on The Mighty about things the blogger wished she had been told about mental illness, I thought let’s delve into what we wished we had been told about body-focused repetitive behaviours (BFRBs), starting with dermatillomania....
Stop Fighting Amongst Ourselves: Behaviour-Free vs Acceptance
It’s becoming more and more evident to me that there’s a stark divide between two different philosophies when it comes to body-focused repetitive behaviours. One the one side of things, we have community members who strive to be behaviour-free....
Wigging Out
Growing up, all I wanted was beautiful, thick, long hair, like all the girls on TV and in the magazines. I wanted long hair because it was beautiful and feminine. Because girls just have long hair and it was...
Pull Free vs. Pick Free
A special thanks to the pullers and pickers in the online community that commented and added to the dialogue on this topic. I have quoted some of you and paraphrased others, but have left all of your comments anonymous....