another tool for our arsenal

[Heather]

For those of you who aren't up for ZT, as well as a backup plan for those who are:

I went to a new shrink today and he had one suggestion for me.

Picking is a totally normal human behavior. Everyone does it to one degree or another. What makes us pickers different is that we can't stop. That's pretty obvious, right? So, he suggested to me the following: Every time you pick...stop yourself the second you start picking, take out a piece of paper, make a tally on it. Then, if you feel like it, resume picking. Everytime you pick, do the same thing. The idea is, us pickers have a problem with "brain lock"--ie our brains get stuck in this funny sort of "grooming" mode. If we are able to DISRUPT the act of picking ourselves, we can get out of that "brainlock" and chances are we won't WANT to keep picking!

Although this may seem simplistic, it makes a lot of sense. I'm going to keep it in mind.

But I'm still up for ZT, tomorrow! Don't you worry!

[angelkiss]

heather, your shrink sounds like he knows what he's talking about! i never had a name for it, but "brain lock" explains that intense feeling when you're so involved in this one spot and you can't stop until it's "done."

i get into that mindset with some other things too...weird things that involve cleaning and focusing on one spot.

tally sheets are deceptively simple, but that's exactly what has worked for me! seeing the marks also gives you an objective idea of how often you picked, how often you abstained. it's better than depending on our own judgment, which is skewed sometimes.

let me know if it works for you, too! good luck!