Hey y'all,
I want to talk to you about BFRBs. I've heard a lot of people open up about their challenges with BFRBs this week, and after a particularly anxious evening last night, resulting in me pulling out a significant amount of my own hair, I decided maybe it's time for me to open up about this. Because, I can't help it.
So, during eating disorder awareness week, I heard a lot more people talk about their experiences with BFRBs (body-focussed repetitive behaviours). This isn't surprising to me, since BFRBs are often triggered by other mental health challenges such as eating disorders, self-harm, and body dysmorphia. But no one really seems to know what they are. Many doctors don't even know. In fact, one of my friends is in med school, and they spend 3 hours on eating disorders in their whole degree. 3 hours. So, it's probably safe to assume that even less time is spent talking about BFRBs. Personally, as my anxiety worsened, so did my trich and derm habits. Maybe this was a way of dealing with what I was going through? But I'm not too sure.
If you have class with me, have ever seen me in a meeting, or public speaking, you probably know that I pretty constantly either scratch my own skin, pick at my arms or face, or pull on my hair. I used to think that this was all normal. I know lots of people play with their hair, so I didn't realize that what I was doing was out of the ordinary. This was until I was sitting at my desk one day, writing a paper. After I submitted it, and I went to get up, I noticed how much of my hair was on the floor. It looked like I had been to the hair dresser. I hadn't even noticed I was doing it. Thinking about it now, though, I realize that I do this all the time. The thing about trichotillomania and dermatillomania is that you sometimes don't even notice... "habits" become more than that. I can be picking at my skin sometimes, and not even notice I'm doing it. On the other hand, I can be anxious and start pulling out my hair. And I know that I shouldn't, and I know what I'm doing once I notice it, but I can't stop.
The thing about BFRBs is that the behaviour is a compulsion. Think of it like when you have a bunch of mosquito bites on your leg, and you tell yourself not to scratch them. Sometimes, you will anyways. Sometimes you won't even notice that you're scratching them until you see the blood on your hands. Or, when you were in middle school and they were checking everyone for lice, and you were convinced that you had it, even when your head hadn't been itchy before. The impulse is so strong that, sometimes, the only way I can get it to go away is to give in.
If you deal with body-focussed repetitive behaviour, know that you are not alone, and there are people who do "get it". If your friend struggles with it, don't tell them to stop scratching at their skin, or pulling at their hair. They really can't help it and probably do want to stop. Ask them how they are feeling, since these actions may be brought on my increased anxiety or nervousness. Maybe come up with something you can do together. Remember that even though they aren't talked about much, trichotillomania and dermatillomania, among other BFRBs are normal, and an estimated 2% of the population deals with them on a day-to-day basis. It's not gross, it's not taboo, and it is possibly to lead a normal healthy life and strategies to deal with these behaviours.
