OCD or Addiction?

[pickles]

Hey Everyone,
I have been extremely busy lately so I haven't been on here for a while. Anyways, last week at the end of my session with my counselor, she said that maybe I wasn't obsessive compulsive, she said that maybe I had an addiction. She didn't say that's what my problem is for sure, she was just bringing up another possibility or explanation for why I pick. I thought it was really odd that she said that. I had never thought of my picking problem as an addiction before. I have no idea if that's what it really is or not though. I think she said that it might be an addiction because if you are obsessive about something, she said that you are constantly thinking about it. I wouldn't really classify myself as thinking about picking a lot. I do think about it every now and again, but when I start one of my "pickfests" I'm not really thinking about it every single time I do it. I know that afterwards I always think about the damage I have done to myself, and I do think about that a lot, but as far as just the picking process itself, I really don't think about it much. I have always thought of an addiction in the terms of of drugs. And then I was thinking, and I know there are people out there who think about and/or have sex a lot, and they are called sex addicts. Sex is not a substance, so are these people really addicts, or are they just obsessed with sex? I looked up the definitions for addict and obsessive compulsive b/c I guess I didn't really understand the difference. The dictionary said that an addiction refers to a COMPULSIVE need to use substances, and obsessive compulsive refers to recurring compulsions and obsessions. So both definitions do have references to the word compulsion, and that's why I'm so confused. I didn't have time to ask my counselor about it, so I'll ask tomorrow when I see her again. I hope everything I said makes sense!

So, my point or question of this long and confusing story is, I was just wondering what you guys thought about my counselor's little theory. And I was wondering if any of you have ever heard of our picking problem being referred to as an addiction. I'm just really curious because she said that she would be trying different things with me if I had an addiction to picking, instead of OCD. Thanks for listening and replying!

pickles

[ruffy69]

I don't think your conselor knows what to call your skin picking. She may be right she may be wrong. I wouldn't think about it much. Just try and not to pick a day at a time. I relate to you, I don't think about picking unless I look in the mirror and start picking. Then I get really upset of all the damage I have done. It does not really matter if it is OCD or an addiction just as long has we all have a support group to help us stop. We all need to report to eachother and not give up. I have been through hell with this skin picking. It has been way harder than quitting drinking for me. I knw from expereince that a support group really helps.

[rabbitmoon]

hey. ive heard of people refering to it as an addiction before, and though you pose an interesting question, i think that the word we use makes very little difference. psychology is not a perfect science but nonetheless, psychologists try to make it one and try to map it out into terms and sections and what not. when really that isnt possible. so many things in our minds overlap and mix in all kinds of ways. and take something like panic attacks- you may get a different description of how they feel from every single person who suffers from them. i think obsessions, compulsions, and addictions are all very closely related and we each may have different amounts of all of those in each of us. my therapist is not really trying to pin down my diagnosis, but rather helping me search for my own personal issues that have caused me to have csp. im not sure how your therapist might change her approach towards you depending upon wheather she thinks you have ocd or an addiction, but hey, if it helps for you to make the distinction, then go for it. let us know what you find out. take care! love, rabbitmoon.

[zittylimits]

Hi Pickles,

If your counsellor will be using different strategies depending on whether CSP is an OCD or an addiction, then it's important she gets it right. I had a CB therapist who wasn't into labels and just helped me change some of my picking behaviour patterns (and had some success too!).

I'm interested in your post, because I recently spent a few months on a group for people with OCD... any OCD, it didn't matter. It was a self-help OCD support group where each member posted their goals for the week. The goal-setting bit worked really well for me, but I found it hard to relate to the OCDers in the group. The vast majority had fears of contamination, and what they call 'magical thinking' which is beliefs like if they wore a certain colour, if they used a certain word something bad would happen. They couldn't relate to my picking habit any more than I could relate to their mindset. We had a lot of respect for each other though, and gave each other lots of support.

But I really began to think that picking doesn't work like classic OCD at all. It really hit home when some well-meaning OCDer suggested that the best way to stop was just to not start! I felt very hurt and angry at first. It was like hearing my nagging mother again! But it had me thinking. Eventually I came up with the idea that it works more like a habit or addiction. My husband is a recovering alcoholic, and we feel that our disorders work in very similar ways. Picking and drinking are both so hard to give up. That's a book in itself though.

I also feel that picking is a bit like gambling. There's the risk factor. We all know about the potential damage before we decide to pick, unless we're doing it in trance state of course, but when I make a conscious decision to pick, I try to go in gently at first, but then I think, just a little bit more, and there's another one, and I know I'm going to make a mess after I pick at this one... and there's a moment when I should step back and leave it alone, and then I think I could satisfy my urge to pick and get away with it!

Similar to the gambler who loses all her money, I end up losing another 15 minutes, half an hour or another hour of my life. And the damage is *always* greater than what I believed I could get away with. I think that's very similar to the gamler's thought patterns. So that's my 2 cents worth, just to confuse the issue :-)

All the best with the counselling,
Scarlet

[Stef (Incubabe)]

I dont think im addicted. I can live without it. I just get bored and then I pick...like an idiot. So...Now im wearing gloves at my pick times. LOL