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.

[jenny1508]

I pickl my scalp I get off when i havea  big chunk of Dandruff sometimes i stand in any kind of mirror for hours and i also pick my scalp and while flakes poors down my black shirt and i get off seeing all the big and small dandruff that comes out of my head My B/F says i look like a Monkey I have allot of stress in my life and hes abusive its sick but i always pick my head and take out dandruff out of my head! e-mail i feel alone ***@****

[kaustav28]

Its just an OCD..its a coping mechanism which gets started by itself to get rid of stress or bad situations one has encountered in the past.

[kaustav28]

Its just an OCD..its a coping mechanism which gets started by itself to get rid of stress or bad situations one has encountered in the past.

[kaustav28]

i have got this stuff since i was 12. i have managed to get rid of this thing wid great difficulty. people suffers from such things because of hard upbringing such as physical abuses from parents or from bad peer experiences at school.I'm trying to get rid of this thing and have almost managed to find out the reason behind these OCDs.I'm conducting a study to make sure that bad parenting particularly creates such diseases.I want reply from people who have suffered hard upbringings because of improper parenting.  Hope you people would reply .

[bethbeattie]

Like pretty much everyone else I had no idea other people (apart from my mum, actually) did this until I googled it today.

I only have one spot on my head that I pick at, and its not very large but I pick at it compulsively, it started from a mosquito bite right at the top of my head from when I was about...5, I'm 19 now, and I've found that since going to university it's got a lot worse as I do a very stressful degree. When I'm stressed or worried I automatically go into that trance-like state and can pick for hours, right up until its too sore to touch and bleeding profusely.

I know there's something wrong about it, as I find the more pain I get from doing it the better I feel about other stuff, as I can focus on the pain instead. However that's no excuse, as sometimes I'll be sat in a lecture hall, picking away, when suddenly I notice the person next to or behind me is watching me do it with a disgusted/confused look on their face.

I've never been diagnosed with depression and I'm pretty sure I don't have it, but I do accept it is an unhealthy way of coping with stress and needs to stop. I'm going to take several points of advice found on this thread and try and stop for good. The key point will be letting it heal over properly I think, as I can't remember the last time I stopped picking long enough for it to heal over properly.

[DadsRachGirl]

I have had this problem since I was a kid. I am now 26 years old. I seem to scratch and scratch and it will start out also like you have all said with any imperfection I find on my head and then I just pick away and scratch till my scalp bleeds and I have cuts or scabs. I think it depends on my stress level and if I go to bed with a lot on my mind. I tend to do it more when I am still. Such as being in bed or sitting on the couch watching a movie or something.

Last night was one of the worst it has been though. My husband works graveyard shift and has for about 3 years and I've always been kind of nervous of being by myself at night. So some nights where I am fairly comfortable I won't pick as much. But on nights like last night where I had tons on my mind, couldn't get comfortable, was a little nervous of the night and there wasn't much on tv I scratched uncontrollably and didn't feel much pain till I MADE myself stop for about 10 minutes. I focused on not doing it and had to go take some Ibuprohen because my head felt so painful. When I over pick sometimes I wake up with head aches.

I currently have about 8 marks on my head where they are so tender that I don't dare pick at them. This is always so embarrassing and I just can't stop. The only thing that stops me is when I have acrylic nails on. Because after the first few days when the nails get dull, they won't pick. But then it makes me so irritable that I can't get to my head that I take my nails off after about 2 weeks if I even last that long.

I didn't ever know if this was something that was a disorder till my husband said that he heard it was a sign of mental illness. I thought he was messing with me but maybe not. It's embarrassing but my husband is pretty understanding and sympathizes with me.

I haven't noticed any bald spots. Well... maybe and I just haven't noticed. But I am hoping there is some type of medicine that can help. I am so so glad to see that I am not alone in this.

:) ... :( ???