Is it normal for mishabits to turn into compulsions when you have ocd?

[Silent_cries]

For the longest of time, probably since I was little, I've had a mishabit of picking my wounds. It used to just be a regular mishabit at first, I never picked to the point where I got scaring or anything. It was never really anything serious until I got unwell. That's when my picking turned obsessive and it became a compulsion for me. It has gotten way out of hand now to the point where I have scarring all over my body from picking. Is this normal with ocd? I'm planning to bring this up with my psycologist as I want to get help with this before I ruin my skin entirely. It's way more obsessive than my other compulsions though and way harder to keep myself from doing. Does anybody else with ocd experience this? Is this normal with ocd?

 

[Ichigo]

It's hard to really observe this from a unbiased perspective because I too have a problem with skin picking. You're right it's a compulsion like you said. Alot of the time Im not actively trying to do it, it's just like my hands start to wonder and automatically they look for the nearest bump, or imperfection to pick at. I guess a nervous tic I picked up from somewhere. Though from where is anybody else's guess. Perhaps stress? That's what my mom says, anyways. she tries to stop me from picking whenever she sees it, which I appreciate. I think it may have something to do with body dysmorphia issues too. In the moment it feels like im smoothing out the imperfections in my skin by picking them but in reality it just makes the bumps look even more red and irritated.
It's like a vicious cycle.

 

[Silent_cries]

It's hard to really observe this from a unbiased perspective because I too have a problem with skin picking. You're right it's a compulsion like you said. Alot of the time Im not actively trying to do it, it's just like my hands start to wonder and automatically they look for the nearest bump, or imperfection to pick at. I guess a nervous tic I picked up from somewhere. Though from where is anybody else's guess. Perhaps stress? That's what my mom says, anyways. she tries to stop me from picking whenever she sees it, which I appreciate. I think it may have something to do with body dysmorphia issues too. In the moment it feels like im smoothing out the imperfections in my skin by picking them but in reality it just makes the bumps look even more red and irritated.
It's like a vicious cycle.

I just did some research and found this thing called skin picking disorder. Maybe that's what we have? It makes sense for me at least. It's related to ocd witch I do have, the symptoms fit me almost to a T, and it explains why it's different than my other compulsions. This explains everything to me. Thought I'd mention it in case I'd be of use for you too. Also yeah, it is a vicious cycle for sure. And as someone who used to sh, it's hard to explain to ppl that my skin picking is not sh. It's different than that, it's more like an obsession really.