Did you know ? The fact of triturating and scratching the skin frequentlyto the point of not being able to help it, can be a sign that one is suffering from a Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) : the dermatillomanie.
What is dermatillomania?
Etymologically, the term dermatillomania is formed from the Greek words ‘derma’, for “skin”, ‘tillo’ for “stripping, depilating” and ‘mania’, which means “madness”. This is a body-focused repetitive behavior (CRCC). Dermatillomania is an obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)1 which is characterized by the fact that theyou can’t stop tweaking and scratching your skin, compulsively and repeatedly without our being able to control ourselves. It can happen on several areas of the skin at the same time but, in most cases, it is mainly their face that people suffering from dermatillomania triturate, but the scalp, the neck, the shoulders, the armpits, the chest, back, hands, arms, buttocks, legs, feet can also be affected.
Dermatillomania affects who?
Little known, dermatillomania is nevertheless a frequent pathology. Dermatillomania is estimated to affect between 1.4% to 5.4% of the general population2. Women are more affected since they represent 3/4 of patients. It can appear at any age but most often affects children and teenagers. In fact, young adolescent girls are the people most affected by this OCD.
Dermatillomania: what are the causes?
As is the case with most obsessive-compulsive disorders, dermatillomania is linked to stress and anxiety. This behavioral disorder can appear in reaction to a stressful situation or following a post-traumatic shock and will then be, for those who suffer from it, a way of compensate and reduce anxiety felt.
What are the symptoms of dermatillomania?
Most often, the symptoms of dermatillomania will appear shortly after the patient has found himself in a situation of stress, tension, anxiety… the various symptoms will then allow him to soothe the anxiety that inhabits him. . There are 3 behaviors revealing this pathology:
The individual will have the reflex to scrutinize his skin very closely to check its condition and, most often, to detect and identify the slightest defects and anomalies.
Then, the individual who suffers from dermatillomania will grind his skin until it is damaged. This is a semi-conscious behavior and the patient does not always realize that he is mistreating his skin. It is impossible for him to stop crushing himself because this action gives him a kind of relief.
Once the small defects have been identified, the individual who suffers from dermatillomania will try to eliminate the roughness with his nails or any accessory (tweezers, needle, razor, etc.). It is almost impossible for him to stop until all the rough edges identified have been ‘treated’. This scratching is also a source of relief for the patient.
Checking, crushing, scraping can last between several minutes and several hours a day…
Far from being trivial, dermatillomania is an obsessive-compulsive disorder that can be treated. The main treatments combine behavioral therapies et drug treatments. Behavioral therapy will seek to understand and thwart the phenomena causing these behaviors of dermatillomania. Sometimes relaxation techniques will help the patient reduce tension. As for drug treatment, it most often relies on specific antidepressants, or even anxiolytics.
To treat dermatillomania it is also often necessary to involve the family, the entourage so that the relatives do not make the patient feel more guilty (since he is not acting voluntarily).
1. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
2. Pathologic skin pickingJon E Grant et Brian L Odlaug, 2009.
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