Classical Conditioning

[scarreddaisy]

This is what we have been learning about in my psychology class and I have figured out why it is so hard for us to stop picking..

We have trained ourselves to inspect... we associate our picking with some stimulus... the more we do it and the faster that stimulus triggers picking, the more hard wired it is into our system.

there are three thigns that make this pickign hardwired
1-neutral stimulus
2-unconditioned stimlus
3-unconditioned response

the neutral stimlus in a picker's case would be a mirror or maybe an anxious feeling... alone it is not associated with picking..

The unconditioned stimlus is a scab or a bump or the like... we did not have to be trained to feel the desire to groom or pick at ourselves ( animal behavior)

the unconditioned response.. is picking... no one had to teach us how to pick...

So..
How this all works is that the neutral stimulus is paired CLOSELY in time with the Unconditioned stimlus to get the picking response... eventually the association between the two will become so strong that we will skip the unconditioned stimlus and the neutral will elict the unconditioned response.. if i lost you... instead of seeing a bump and being triggered to pick, you simply just have to feel anxious( or whatever other feeling you associated with picking) and you start to pick without the initial trigger...

Now the course varies for people dueto different way of conditioning themselves to pick... I myself am triggered by touch..

This is the most important part of this post...This is a behavior that is not easily broken... in fact, it will forever remain in our lives.. There is a process that can occur call extinction where the association between the reflection and the anxiety and the picking is broken.. so hope? Yes, there is some of that. Unfortunately.. there is this part of conditioning called spontaneous recovery... this is why it is such a big deal for an alocoholic to state that he hasn't had a drink in 20years.. because every day he is fighting that spontaneous recovery and fighting the possibility that he might become reconditioned ( which, everytime that happens, it makes it even harder than the first time to stop).....

I have been beating myself about not being able to stop... This granted me a lot of comfort in my struggle and let me know that I am not a failure and that this is a very difficult thing to deal with and to break and it will forever be a problem area in our lives... and that relapsing is an everyday threat to the picker... there is a reason why it is so hard and we can fight it ... but we can never expect for it to go away completely...

[me2]

Wow! I can't believe that you are also discovering classical conditioning and how it affects learned behaviors. I'm also taking first year Psyc, and I've been picking @ my skin for 15 years (or so). Have you looked into Operant Conditioning? If you haven't, the guy to read about is B.F. Skinner. Operant Conditioning involves rewards and punishments. "Any behavior that is rewarded is more likely to happen again. Any behavior which is punished is less likely to happen again". It may help you to figure out why you started picking in the first place. My mom used to pick at blemishes on my arms when I was a kid. (yuck, huh?). Anyway, I ended up attaching feelings of relaxation and comfort to skin picking because she would have me sit on her lap while she did it. We didn't have a lot of other close contact... I have to believe that she didn't know what the result of her "grooming" would be.
So, my Unconditioned Stimulus: picking @ blemishes
Neutral Stimulus: Mom's lap and her apparant concern for my skin's well being.
Unconditioned Response: Relaxation and comfort.
You can see that what has happened in my case and probably in many other's is that my picking, (as much as I am ashamed of it, and trying to fight it) actually has its own reward now (relaxation). I have not learned any other tools to deal with anxiety or stress, so I am forced over and over again to fall back into this pattern.

sound familiar anyone???

But there is hope! The term paper for psyc100 @ school is to use Operant Conditioning to chang a behavior (to some degree). I have chosen to change my picking behavior by installing appropriate rewards (which are relaxing) and appropriate punishments for poor behavior(ie: more than 10 minutes/day of picking). I am on my third day. The longest I've ever gone is four days... Yikes!!! I'm hoping to at least improve the amount of time per day that I spend picking which is sometimes two or more hours. I think it can be done.

I'm not saying that it's all very simpy because if it were, we wouldn't do it. I'm saying Yes! there probably is a way around it! and you know what scarreddaisy?-Extinction be damned! I know that no matter how well I do today, something could happen tomorow and I'll be right back at it. But just because I screw up one day doesn't mean that I have to screw up the next day if I can learn some way around it.

Although its much easier to see and express the ways in which our picking harms us, I think the only way to get to the next step is considering what we use it for...

Good luck everyone.

[FarmGirl]

Wow, those posts just fried my brain

I have to chew on all that while I do chores this morning. My peabrain can only handle so much! Very interesting stuff! Thanks for posting that!

[touchingpeace]

Thanks for the informative posts. I am also a Psych student. To add a bit to what's been said (I also just wrote a paper on CSP). It seems that people who pick get used to a state of hyper-arousal, since the picking is intensely stimualting even though it helps us to zone out. We operate on so many different levels at once that we cannot always be aware of the residual effects the picking has on body,mind, and spirit-but it does. Our entire nervous systems are hard-wired in a certain way. Our very bodies expect a high level of stress in order to function properly, at least the way we have come to know functioning. So, when we stop picking we can have withdrawl symptoms just the same way one does when eliminating other toxins and toxic behavior from life. However, the body gets worn out and tired in this process. We don't even get a chance to realize our boundless natural energy,because so much of it goes to picking.

This is why it is hard to be bored. So, the whole process of learning to live without any safety net is enormously challenging. That is what it is for me, since I have realized that I no longer "need" to pick. Picking has well worn out its welcome. I am in withdrawl and bouncing back and forth.

I am always inspired, touched, and encouraged when visiting this site. I know we can heal ourselves, it is only us who can. People who don't experience the suffering can help us but cannot heal us, so thank you everyone for your honesty and support.

-Jules

[Zoner]

I'm so impressed with these posts. I have a BA in psych and am applying to graduate school for clinical psych in the fall. Each one of you has been right on the mark as far as picking- and I think it is a combination of all three aspects that has led each of us develope and maintain to our nasty little habit.
Me2- my mom used to do the same thing to me when I was younger. I would lay across her lap and she would pick at my back and neck. I found it to be so comforting. I think that I've associated that comfort with the picking and do it as a way to comfort myself.
but I also agree with touching peace- in that picking is hyper-stimulating. I've always noticed that. I get so intensely focused on what I'm doing, that I can calm myself. If I'm stressed and have a zillion things on my mind- then picking focuses me, and comforts me.
All of this is associated with the conditioning. I think that there is a biological component to it as well. I wouldn't doubt that when we do it, we release some sort of endorphine that also helps us to relax, but makes it addicting as well. The 'pleasure principle' in pscyh theory covers this as well.
Who knows- maybe we'll all be famous researchers on this some day!- With that- I encourage everyone to help out angelkiss with her research!

[sagacious]

So maybe what started out as a bad habit turned into a "pill" for what ails us at the moment? Sagacious

[cindigirl]

hi folks! haven't posted since the first day i discovered this site about a week ago. but i HAVE been reading everyone's threads. and i have to say that these last few are fascinating. i totally agree with everything said about conditioning and i, too, sat on my mom's lap while she picked and it always comforted me. i also believe in pleasure endorphins being released. this is all sooooo very fascinating to me. i am learning so much about this disorder. i finally believe now, that i do have an actual disorder, and to stop beating myself up about it all the time, because it isn't totally all my fault. but i know that i have within me the power to stop. all of us do, and i believe we all will one day. take care all!