Skin picking is a habit not self harm??

[Itsahabitnotharm]

I’ve always had a bad habit of skin picking due to ASD, I very occasionally get an infection due to it. I saw a new GP at my surgery yesterday and I’ve just seen they’ve recorded it as ‘self harm’ on my notes ???

It’s just a habit?! Or is it now classed as self harm? AIBU to be annoyed at this

If you’re doing it to yourself and it’s causing harm (e.g. infections), it’s self-harm. It may not be as serious as the more obvious forms of self-harm, but it’s still self-harm. Sorry.

I would view it as self harm. Possibly not deliberate though if it's habit rather than with the intention of hurting yourself. I can understand why you'd be annoyed though as I think when you hear the term self harm, most people do associate it with deliberate harm.

It’s not intentional I just do it and don’t even realise , this is the third infection in 6 years so it’s not a regular occurrence. I was just shocked they’ve put that and may ask them to change it

I'd have thought it was always classed as self harm.

I think that’s what confused me as it’s not deliberate at all, I’ve done it since I was a toddler and I don’t even register half the time that I’m doing it if that makes sense

It can be both. Or either.

I think it’s meant to be called ‘compulsive skin picking’ though so I’m going to ask them to please amend it on my notes

I have autism and OCD and I’ve done this all my life, as long as I can remember. I pick the skin around my nails until they bleed. Sometimes it’s so bad I have to put plasters on them to stop myself doing it. Despite what others think it isn’t actually better or worse if I’m stressed or depressed, it really is a habit for me and I do it Al the time as a sort of self soothing thing I think. I don’t consider it to be self harm because when I’m doing it it doesn’t even hurt (!) although yes if I continue doing it too much it does, and that’s when I know I’ve gone too far. I’ve never been able to stop it. I am 44 now.

Most (potentially all?) self-harm is compulsive. Gently, it would be good to move on from the labelling and seek help for the actual problem.

Gosh, who knew! Just shows you how screwed statistics really are if this is bring recorded as self harm. I mean, picking that ragged bit of skin on my finger is self harm? Me, who faints at the sight of blood, goes into sheer panic at the thought of a needle and has to be doped up to even get me into a hospital. Wonders never cease.....

I do it at times

It is self harm
I pull my hair out. Both come under the umbrella of body focused repetitive disorders.

You are off the mark here.

Picking off a bit of ragged skin is not skin picking, skin picking is much more regularly and habitual

https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/skin-picking-disorder/

I used to do it a lot as a child/ teenager. I don't have ASD or any other diagnosis. I've never needed to consult a GP about it though. I would not be pleased to be described as self harming. As a PP says, it's just removing ragged bits of cuticle/skin around the nails. I was a nail biter back in those days too.

Excoriation is self harm, intentional or not.

I do this and have done since I was about 8. I also wouldn’t really consider it self harm personally but I can see why it could be. I think for me I consider self harm to be more deliberate.

I’m also autistic with obsessive compulsive tendencies. I will often pick and bite the skin until it bleeds and gets really sore. It doesn’t hurt most of the time though. Only if I go overboard. Once it hurts and bleeds I put plasters on to stop it until it heals. I so so wish I could stop it. People on here always say how disgusting it is and I’ve been told in real life. I wish I could stop. It will sometimes hurt so much I struggle to use my fingers. But it still wasn’t deliberate. I didn’t set out to hurt myself. It soothes me. I do it when bored, stressed, agitated or overwhelmed.

But let’s face it, on here especially people only think autistic children should be allowed and tolerated to stim or self sooth. When adults do it they tend to criticise it.

I sometimes skin pick. I was told it used to be classed as self harm, but it is now classed as OCD as the intention is not to deliberately cause any harm. For most people who skin pick, causing harm is distressing, the picking is done due to a compulsion to have smooth skin. The harm (bleeding, scarring, infection) is accidental and not the intention of the picking.

“ Why Skin Picking Disorder Is Not Self-Harm

So,is skin-picking a form of self-harm? No. The DSM-5 specifically states that excoriation disorder should not be diagnosed if the behaviors are better explained by self-injury.

One of the main differences between excoriation vs. self-harm is repetition. Someone with excoriation could absentmindedly pick their skin hundreds or thousands of times per day. Self-harm occurs much less often, and there is always a conscious awareness of the action.
The level of pain is another contrasting point separating skin-picking disorder from self-harm. In self-injury, the behavior is performed to create a feeling of pain, but in excoriation, pain is not a motivating factor.”

www.therecoveryvillage.com/mental-health/excoriation/excoriation-vs-self-harm/

I have family members that skin pick (all over their body not just around their fingers) and they tend to do it more during stressful times so I can see why it would be considered as self harm. They don't seem to be aware that they are doing it most of the time though.

more info for you @Itsahabitnotharm

I pick and pull hair, I class it as habit not self harm in my case as I am not doing it to cause harm or doing it intentionally. It can be linked to self soothing, anxiety, ocd and adhd.

I work in mental health and we would put it in the self harm category even though I understand that for you it isn't but it's harming one self isn't it in relation to a feeling (stress probably that then becomes habit based) if you think about it. 😊

Types of picking
This activity usually happens in one of two ways, “automatic” or “focused.”

• Automatic: This kind of picking often happens without a person thinking about it. Experts sometimes call this “scanning” because it tends to involve running hands or fingertips across areas of skin to find any areas that feel different, which might then become an area for focused picking.
• Focused: This kind of picking is “focused” on a specific area, and the picking can go on for hours. This kind of picking tends to be more severe and is more likely to cause damage to your skin.

OP look at picky pads on Etsy etc - may help break the habit.

I work with neurodivergent kids. I tend to classify things in two ways:

1. Self harm - deliberately hurting oneself, usually because of a maladaptive coping mechanism e.g. wrist cutting.
2. Self injury - ASD type stuff due to sensory or repetitive behaviours eh skin picking, head banging

So I would call yours self injury.

Worth classifying them differently in my mind..... Because they require totally different management