Child With Skin Picking Compulsion

I have successfully worked with children with OCD symptoms. I think it is best if you book yourself a session with me, but I will try to give you a bit of a view so you can take some basic steps to alleviate your daughter skin picking compulsion.

Usually, children with compulsive tendencies start displaying them around age five, six or seven. Compulsions and obsessions are self soothing mechanism. We all have self-soothing strategies, most of which are socially acceptable and rarely hinder our daily living.

The tendency to sooth oneself never goes away, which is good. Once you know your child’s unique ways of alleviating stress, anxiety and discomfort, her compulsive behaviors can help you in alleviating the causes.

The cause is always the same: Stress, anxiety, fears. I cannot know what is going on in your child’s life that is the cause of her anxiety. Does she go to school? Is she under pressure to be good at anything or behave well? Do you praise or reward her? Is there a new sibling? A new friend? Are you and your husband arguing? Any other reasons for fears or insecurity? 

Some fears show up naturally at this age and are not necessarily the result of any pressure. The child’s awareness opens up and the world seems larger, more unknown and less secure. The related feelings and thoughts have to be expressed and causes of anxiety alleviated.

Many children go through compulsive behaviors at this age, and when the pressure is removed and the child can speak openly about her emotions, the behavior does stop.

While you connect with your daughter to sort out her emotions and find the cause of her anxiety, it is fine to cover the wounded skin and provide other ways to “pick” harmlessly. Maybe put bandages that she can peel off or/and she can do craft and art that involves peeling and pasting.

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