So, I've been picking my skin for about 7 years i guess. It started with my thighs and legs and my upper arms(a bit) in general because of keratosis pilaris and then I got a lot of acne / blackeheads so I kinda moved to my face instead and during the last year it has gotten much worse and I've started to pick my neck, chest, shoulders, back(where I can reach) all of my arm, still my legs and of course my face. I went to my doctor 8 months ago because I'm sick and tired of it and it gives me a lot of anxiety. He said I could try to see a psychologist offered by my municipality for free. I went there(you get 5 sessions) and after the last session, she told me that I should try to see if I could get to see apsychiatrist at the mental hospitaland if not, then a psychologist since my picking had not gotten any better since we started. When I told me doctor he said he thought that the first option(a mental hospital) sounded a bit extreme but he then asked me to complete a depression and an anxietyquestionnaire. He then asked me if I had thought about medicine(if i went to the mental hospital) and I said that i had and that most people(who suffered from skin picking) had most success withCBT combined with medicine(I was personally thinking SSRIs), but he seemed really reluctant to prescribe me any meds(if my psychologist would propose the idea), and then he said it was mostly because I was so young(19) and I just don't get it. My skin picking only gets worse as the time goes by. I don't go out or see friends because of it and it makes me isolate myself for weeks and I already get a lot of social anxiety without my skin looking like a battlefield. I still go to school and my grades are fine which is also why he thinks I function pretty well. But the fact is I always start to cry when I talk with him and I'm even crying as I type this. I don't know what to do, I don't think I can stop picking my skin without medicine because I'm so stuck and I don't have enough willpowerto be mindfull when I get an urge to pick. I'm starting to get pretty desperate and I'm considering hypnosis or even medical marijuana(I've never smoked it but I've read that strains containing a high CBD content works for anxiety). Does anyone have any idea as to why my age interfere with his judgement or any advice in general?
I don't know your situation fully, but I agree that CBT with a psychologist + meds sounds like a healthy combo. I'm going to assume you're a woman (sorry if I'm misgendering!) and my impression is that this doctor is disinclined to believe a young woman with what he maybe feels like are issues of vanity? Hard for me to understand why else he wouldn't want to help a crying patient. Is this your primary care physician? Maybe it's time for a new doctor.
You need to see a psychologist who specialises in cognitive psychology and have experience with skin picking (never had the opportunity so see one myself). Meds didn't make my skin picking go away but it helped me care less about my skin when being social (antidepressive) and it helped with the urge/abstinences (naltrexone). Skin picking is like an addiction. Naltrexone is what you give morphine addicted and some believe morphine is being produced naturally when we pick our skin. It kind of make sense because when you pick you dontcare about the pain i guess.