Compulsive Scalp Picking

[Christi797]

I am 28 years old and have picked scabs on my scalp since I was about 12 years old.  Normally I find little imperfections, possibly dandruff or dry scalp, and I pick at it until it becomes a scab.  Once a scab develops, I find myself uncontrollably picking at it, so it usually never heals or takes an extremely long time or another scab to develop to stop.  Right now, I have a total of six scabs that I have created on my scalp.  When I am picking I can't necessarily say that it relieves stress like I have found on some of the other web sites, but more of an obsession that I can't control.  I have been treated for depression and PTSD, but have never mentioned my compulsive picking.  I have been prescribed both Zoloft and Prozac with Klonopin for the symptoms of anxiety and depression, but I still seem to pick at me head.  The kicker is that I also do this in my sleep.  I will literally wake up with blood under my nails.  What treatment options are there other than medication?  Should I tell my primary care physician or should I talk to a psychiatrist?  What are some of the causes of this, could it be OCD?  I don't really have any sort of rituals like you see or read about or extreme fears, but I can not seem to stop picking at my scalp, and although I am not pulling at my hair, I am noticing hair loss.  Any feedback would be appreciated.

[angiettt]

I started picking at 10, one day coming home from the beach I was getting sand out of my hair and I fell in love with the way the grains felt coming off of my head then picking them out from underneath my nails. And I have been doing it ever since. Almost 10 years of scalp picking and my hair is noticeably thinner. Much like most of the commenters I suffer from other forms of mental disorders. I'm suffering with bipolar depression. I never seen this problem as an anxiety pick since I do it when I'm bored or sleepy, I always thought it was more of a habit like twirling your hair. Im just starting to have enough of this tick if you must and I now keep my nails super short and when I have the urge to pick I just run my finger tips along my scalp instead and it does the same amount of justice for me.

[ZDButterfly]

I honestly didn't start off as a Scab Picker. My mother from the time I could remember always picked scabs off my head and ate them. Well until I was about 10 or so and then I started fighting back because it hurt so much. Well, after that no one picked my scabs until a few years ago. I'm 25 now I wanna saw when I turned 20 or 21, but it was only a once a month kind of thing, nothing too serious. It wasn't until I was 23 I started to really pick at my head. I didn't think much of it and was ashamed. I picked my head for a 2 weeks every few months or so and then just these past few months I have started to really pick at myself. I moved states in August. I have moved many and several times before, and quite a few times on my own… I was on anxiety medication, but I gained a LOT of weight from it and stopped taking it before I moved. My boyfriend says he notices I get overwhelmed easily and that I do have a lot of anxiety, but I refuse to take the medication. Since I wanna say September I started off picking at my head. This went on well into October. November I stopped with my head and started to pick at my face for a month. I finally stopped that but in December I somewhat started again on my head but then on the back of my neck & right shoulder. I honestly still am picking my shoulder and neck.

My mother has picked her scabs and my siblings for MANY years. Well over 4 decades of it.  She had me when she was 20 and I believe she was picking before then. I always told myself I wouldn't end up the way she did, btu I never expect to pick at myself. I was always repulsed when I saw her doing it. My man has been a wonderful support and stops me whenever he sees me doing it, but he can't watch me 24/7. I do have OCD as well. I was also abused as a child from my step-father. I think the stress of moving and not having a job is what is causing me to pick. Like I'm honestly feeling really stressed just thinking about it and I keep running my fingers over my scabs and I'm trying to resist. Anyways, I just want you to know you are not alone at all. <3

[19msjan44]

I picked for years to the point that my glands were always swollen due to a low grade infection.  I have scalp psoriasis and I would not only pick but gouge so much that it was so very painful but I just had to get it all off. Then I would get little bald spots where the scabs were.  I finally got acrylic nails and then, to my surprise, because my nails were thicker and not so sharp, I was unable to pick so they all healed up  and my hair grew back where I picked.

Good Luck Ally

[19msjan44]

I picked for years to the point that my glands were always swollen due to a low grade infection.  I have scalp psoriasis and I would not only pick but gouge so much that it was so very painful but I just had to get it all off. Then I would get little bald spots where the scabs were.  I finally got acrylic nails and then, to my surprise, because my nails were thicker and not so sharp, I was unable to pick so they all healed up  and my hair grew back where I picked.

Good Luck Ally

[harry214]

Call me crazy but I take a way different take on what has been happening to me and potentially some people in this thread.

I started picking my HAIR after I began landscaping, I thought it was something in the grass that was making only specific parts of my hair rough.  Similarly another commenter (dude73) writes that this is simply "hair" and I am thinking it to be rough...

I cannot however agree with this poster and this thought train.  When my hair falls off its usually very small or smaller but not always, I look at the hair in close light from my iphone.   From what I have found the hair has some varying type of a bad "spilt end" (you will know what I mean if you google it) and I usually can randomly see very very tiny white specs moving very quickly.  

These specs are so small and fast that the only possible way I can make them out is by putting the hair right next to my bright iphone light, even then I can only see them fly by very very quickly.  It seems every single time I do it I can see one or two or sometimes tons when using a hair that has come down from a rough spot.  They change direction as they are flying which makes me convinced they are not simply tiny dust particles.

The reason I post this here is that I have exactly the symptoms described in some of the above comments.  Perhaps I am crazy or perhaps some people have overlooked something they could potentially have instead?  I am 100% convinced that if I did not have these rough patches I would no longer touch my hair as this is the only reason I started...

[EricWP]

I just started since I lost my job this past May 2014. It's probably from anxiety. Started doing it in bed then it escalated to during the day. It's at the point where the scabs become painful to pick. Compulsion doesn't care. It just picks and picks until it gives. However, I won't pick at a super painful scab. That is almost too much pain (i'm not good with pain, in general). But I will "push it down". sometimes that flattens them. I really search for the ones that pick up nicely below the nail. Sometimes I get really large ones that fill under broad area beneath the finger nail. To make matters worse, I have compulsion to roll the scab in between my fingers. Often times, and to great frustration, the scab drops and I can no longer find it. This occurs in bed. Then, I'll just look for another. Rinse/Repeat. Yes, I think it's from anxiety. One other compulsion, which is gross and a little embarrassing to admit, I like to scrape the oily scalp skin until it gathers under my nail. Then I scoop the residue out and roll it into a ball. Then, I throw it to the floor. It's embarrassing because I am not a daily showerer. Since being unemployed, I have no ambition to shower. No where to go. No one to impress. Just me and the cats. All of this, I think, is related to anxiety. I think were doing things to interrupt the anxious thoughts. Something that gets immediate satisfaction from slight pain. That's like a template to dealing with our difficult emotions. I'm no therapist or psychologist but that's what dr. phil within says. One last thing i'll say, there was a movie (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I think) where a bad guy had a hanger. He had it unfurled. He heated one end of the hanger which he immediately stabbed his scalp with and licked the hanger. Like he was eating the scabs off. I'm not that bad. But that is food for thought, that were not that crazy lol.