Here at skinpick.com we offer a therapist guided, online therapy program, based on CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy). CBT has been consistently found to be the most effective form of therapy for the treatment of body-focused repetitive behaviors. It is the method of choice that is primarily used by expert therapists worldwide, who specialize in treating this disorder. There are many methods within this treatment framework that can be applied in isolation of each other or together as a holistic and comprehensive whole. Regardless of the primary method of CBT employed by your therapist, one fundamental principle of CBT is the developing of awareness by the patient of the behavior they are trying to change and the contexts in which they occur.

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Why do I need to develop awareness?

There are two types of skin picking - automatic and focused. Automatic picking, is picking that occurs without the person being aware of the urge to pick prior to engaging in the behavior and so picking often occurs without him or her realizing it. Focused picking on the other hand, is when there is a clear and distinct irresistable urge to pick, resulting in the person purposefully engaging in picking. In both instances, in order apply skills and strategies to tackle the behavior, it is important for the individual to be aware of when they tend to or are most at risk of picking. Picking usually follows a pattern and by identifying the pattern or picking one can anticipate when the urge to pick is most likely to occur. One of the strategies used to get patients to gain awareness is the keeping of a picking log. This is essentially where the patient is requested to document each time they pick and to record information such as location, context, what happened just prior to picking and how you felt or what you were thinking, what was happening at the time of picking and how you felt while picking, and recording where on your body and the severity of picking.

The Self-Monitoring App

Keeping a picking log can be very challenging, particularly when picking is integrated into ones daily life. We have had feedback form many clients through our program who have reported struggling to remember to keep the log or it was no always easy to record in written or typed formats. For this reason the team at skinpick.com decided to develop an app for mobile that will enable the patient to record their picking behaviors quickly, securely and on the go. The main role of the self monitoring tool is to create awareness for the client about their behavior, and identify patterns. The app is now almost ready to be launched, currently in the testing phases with our therapists. We will be making it available for our ongoing clients at first stage and about a month later we're going to launch it to the public. The app will be available for download on android and iOS devices.

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UPDATE: the App is available for download here >>