#cw: bfrb

[wastheheart-arc]

i'm so tired of being m.entally i.ll. what do you mean i have a b.frb to self soothe when all it does is ultimately make me feel even more shit than i already did?

why can't i just be normal and stop, y'know? i'm so fucking tired, angry and fed up with myself. always in some level of discomfort because of me and my shit excuse of a brain.

[syrips]

i really wanna make my trich pc. i have a wig-wearing pc but i wanna make a trich/hair one. aaa-

anyways below cw warning

cw: trichotillomania coping/meme

how it feels to pluck for 5 hours: wow, time sure flies, huh!

how it feels to not pluck for 5 minutes: AAAAAAAAAAA-

[tender-traps]

i want whumpees with bfrbs (body-focused repetitive behaviors) as stress responses

(dermatillomania: compulsive skin picking

trichotillomania: compulsive hair plucking

onychophagia: compulsive nail biting)

owner whumper being horrified at how their pet with a bfrb is damaging their appearance

whumper commenting on how bad the scabs/bald spots/nails are to taunt whumpee

prisoner whumpee having their hands tied behind them specifically so they can't have the stress release of picking/pulling/biting

stoic whumpee’s teammates noticing them being careful to keep their arms covered/their hair thinning out in one spot/their ripped-off nails on their scabby fingers

captive whumpee having only one way to try to reclaim the body that doesn’t belong to them anymore, and getting punished for it

please add more ideas if you have them i love to see bfrb rep

(really sorry if this triggered yours btw i tried my best to tag appropriately)

[performing-personhood]

The fury i feel at stopped when i'm busy mindlessly picking is so funny actually because I immediately become the lady from that text post

My husband, gently laying a hand on my thigh as a Stop Now signal: you should eat more of that food you made yourself ❤️

Me, grumpily to myself: I'm literally not hurting anybody >:(

Me, tiredly to myself: ma'am we count as an Anybody

Still me, indignantly: WELL THAT'S RIDICULOUS >:( >:(

[trichy-jadie]

Reblog this if you want to show trichotillomania awareness!

[the-woke-mind-virus]

I bet there's a small community of people like me here, who struggle not to bite or pick at their hang nails.

I've been doing this since I was 12. If I get a hang nail, I can't resist the urge to bite or pick at it, which just makes it worse. Over the last couple of decades, the habit has become fully ingrained and integrated, to the point where I find it difficult to reconcile how normal it feels with the actual gross consequences.

I'm a musician, so I handle other people's instruments sometimes, and occasionally I get blood on them. I have embarrassing memories from throughout my life of bleeding on things and people. I've been asked awkward questions about the cuts and tears on my fingers, and I've lied about how I came by them.

Today is day one of a new attempt to heal myself. Not just the physical habit, but the compulsion and psychological shit that underpins it.

I put plasters on six of my fingers last night, and the first hurdle is to understand that when I've washed my hands a couple of times and the plasters feel wet and ragged and uncomfortable, I get to take them off and use new ones. I have two boxes of plasters beside me, I have a chemist down the street, and I have money to buy plasters. It's okay to replace them; it's not cheating if I take them off.

[hells-greatestdad]

// speaking of... I headcanon that Lucifer has the angel equivalent of trichotillomania, which for him is plucking his feathers out when stressed. (Birds also do this. I once had a budgie who was unable to grow a great deal of her feathers back because she had plucked them so much.)

This is one reason his wings are put away most of the time. He's proud of his wings and doesn't want to permanently damage them.

[futilechildhooddream]

my fingers hurt. all the time. I think a nail is ingrown but trying to tear it out hurts more. I can't stop tearing at them. it makes them grow back worse. I miss painting colors on my fingers. I want them to be blue, instead they're red with blood and cracked with white. it hurts. im tired of tearing. I've never been able to stop and it's only gotten worse

[tetedump]

had never heard about this, am trying it along with imagining my hand soothing my head/myself.

it's been beyond challenging to try and find some sort of relaxation given the current sociopolitical climate. I find it hard to trust that my safe space will always be there, because so many people's safe places have been ripped away from them.

so it's hard to relax. it's hard to let go. and reground. and hard to be kind to myself in letting myself relax, let go, and reground, because again, so many people aren't able to do that. and I know that me not letting myself reground doesn't actually do anything, it just feels hard to let myself do that when i'm not sure I can trust it will last. if any of that makes sense?

but I just gently stopped a pulling by pressing the palm of my hand to the part where i wanted to pull. I felt the push of the hairs against my head/some stimulation on my scalp, which helped 'completing' the gesture as mentioned above, but i also imagined holding my little inner self and sending her some love and care, even though she's in so much pain at the moment. my eyes teared up slightly; I wasn't able to actually cry, but it felt like some emotional movement rather than just being so stuck like i've been for the past day or two.

it's so hard to stop pulling because I have to actually want to stop. I have to actually want to be kind to myself and sit with/acknowledge the stress or pain I'm feeling. (this could be different for other people, but at least is my current understanding of my experience..) doing something physical to show kindness to myself, while still engaging in part of the behavior that feels calming (holding my head and feeling the bent hairs stimulate my scalp) feels like an alright middle ground/compromise to help move me towards full kindness to myself.

at least this got me out of the trance enough to go shower, treat my body kindly, and hopefully get through the day until therapy later. <3

[TW: Trichotillomania/BFRB discussion]

I randomly ended up reading about decoupling, decided to give it a try, and I haven't pulled or eaten my hair in two days. My mind is kind of reeling right now.

Decoupling is a technique for treating BFRBs where you redirect the motion that's usually associated with the behavior you're trying to stop. For example, if you bite your nails, when you're in the process of bring your finger up to your mouth, you would instead touch your earlobe or another part of your face.

For me, when I'm reaching to pull a hair, I instead press the palm of my hand to the back of my head. It's especially useful because it gives me the satisfying sensation of touching hair, which no kind of fidgeting can replace, but in a harmless way. It shuts down the impulse in a way that just stopping doesn't; I think it's because it feels like the gesture is "completed" in a way, not left unfinished.

The impulse is still there, I think especially because it doesn't address the hair-eating element of the behavior, but thusfar I've been able to shut it down effectively. We'll see how this goes.

[incendavery]

do not disturb

[roaldamundsen]

sorry mutuals this one's a bit different. I'm wondering if anyone on here with ocd and/or body focused repetitive behaviors had ever become hyperfixated on getting tattoos?

I went off the rails for a few months and now feel pretty shitty about my life choices as expected ❤️

[neurodiverse-adulthood]

https://www.buzzfeed.com/norbertobriceno/feel-the-peel

[wasppilled]

headcanon: jonathan sims struggles with body-focused repetitive behaviors (skin picking, hair pulling, etc.)

[re-core]

I remember the first time I learned what trichotillomania is. I was so surprised that there was a word. And I remember telling my mother, “I found out there was a word for what I’ve been doing” because I thought that would help the both of us try to figure out what to do. I thought that, “Hey she wants me to stop picking so she might need to know this!” And then she replied, “I know what its called, do you think I don’t know what the word is? Do you think I don’t know what’s going on?” while throwing her arms in the air. She said it with such an offended tone with that hint of accusation in it.  It shut me up in an instant.  I know she was actively trying to help and that she cares deeply but she says so many things that hurt. I know she doesn’t mean to say it in such a way. I know she doesn’t.  Although now, it seems that she doesn’t really care much anymore. I’ve started picking scabs on my head now along with picking at eyebrows and eyelashes. We both know I can’t stop, so we’ve both just stopped trying anything. 

[dangerscully]

A really cool aspect of dermatillomania and other BFRBs is that you get super fun visual evidence of how stressed, depressed, and/or anxious you’ve been recently!!!

[sylvianamorel]

hi lovelies! for anyone who struggles with excorciation disorder aka chronic skin picking, I have a helpful hint for you. I personally have been struggling with it before bedtime, usually as I'm trying to fall asleep. I especially struggle with spots on my arms, legs, decolletage, and hips. I'm fortunate enough to work at a home health and hospice agency and have medical professionals available who have dealt with wound care. Since I have extremely sensitive skin, I have had a hard time finding bandages that don't break my skin out. I also hate that if I want to check on a wound, you have to remove the bandage.

might I introduce you to the greatest $16 USD I have e v e r spent.

TEGADERM

y'all. listen. This small transparent square is MAGICAL. Some of my spots have healed almost completely!!!! we are going to not count the relapse I had over the weekend It's waterproof, hypoallergenic, and allows you to monitor your spots. I got the smallest size I could and got a box of 100. I also have started taking a supplement at the request of my physician. It's called NAC or aetylcysteine and I'm taking 600mg twice a day. any way, for any of you folks who struggle with a body focused repetitive behavior, come chat if you need a distraction! I'm not on here as often so I apologize if my response is delayed. best of luck to you all 💕 xxx