Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors

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I was kind of curious of who here has issues with body focused repetitive behaviors such as skin picking, hair pulling, nail biting, biting inside of cheeks, headbanging etc.
I have a problem with skin picking and headbanging..(headbanging mainly when im very upset)Its hard to stop skin picking especially and is getting very embarrasing because of the scars. Have any advice on how to stop this? Sorry if this has been discussed before.

Not sure if this counts, but during periods of stress or distress I wet or mess my pants. I've talked about this with a close friend of mine who does self harm (she's a cutter), and we think that it's based on similar principles, a grounding if you will. It redirects my attention from the noise in my head to something physical (my body).

My husband has a problem with picking the skin on his hands and nail biting. It's an anxiety thing with him. I think the only way to stop it is to find a less damaging behaviour for when you're anxious. A lot of self-harmer's ping an elastic band around their wrist, or write on themselves in red ink, as much to distract themselves as to emulate the feeling without the damage, can't say it ever worked for me and I don't know if it would work with what you're describing. Maybe occupying your hands and your mind with something would be worth a try.

I have a problem with biting off small bits of flesh from the inside of my mouth as well as biting all the skin off my lips. I occasionally pick my skin on my arms but that's only when I'm extremely stressed or bored. The only thing that really stops me hurting myself is to bite or pick at something else, which means sometimes I end up eating things that aren't food (e.g. paper and tiny bits of plastic) because when I chew things my instinct is to swallow, even if it's not meant to be swallowed. My dog has a hard rubber chew toy, I'm thinking of getting one for myself to bite when I'm stressed. It's not really the sort of thing that can done in public without attracting attention, but it could at least be a distraction in private. If I feel like picking at my arms sometimes it helps if I put on a thick sweater and pick at the sleeves instead.

I do have a bad habit of biting my tongue/cheek/lower lip, though it is not a response to any stress or anxiety (more centered on concentration and boredom). As I've mentioned in other posts, my repetitive behaviors tend to be in the tactile realm.

Would chewing gum help?

I have a certain deep seated longtime example of what your talking about. Have struggled to rid myself of it for decades.

With me its pulling on my nose -enough to cause temporary damage - and days long cycles of pain and itching and healing and then when the healing done- having the urge to pull come back-and having to resist inflicting damage again-and then succumbing - and the cycle starts again. Its complicated to explain.

But what helps stave off the urge to pull on my nose - one thing is finding a handy excercise ritual.

With me its isometrics on my arms. If the urge to pull on my nose arises I just begin instensively pulling my arms against each other (the equivalent of pumping iron) but without weights- just Charles Atlas style dynamic tension on the biceps and triceps. That way my hands are occupied and the emotional energy shifts away from my face to my extremities. It staves the thing off for a while, and helps buff you up.

You might invest in a stationary excercise bike, or whatever suits you. And try to channel the obsession and compulsion into building up miles on the odometer of the bike for example. Something like that.

My daughter picks her nose and her skin compulsively. I don't really have any advice, but you aren't alone.

I pick my skin compulsively too.......I had acne on my face and back and I pick at the scabs and scars where it used to be.....I'm doing it right now and telling myself to stop doing it!

I have problems with skin-picking. I used to pick the skin on my fingers and my fingers are still sensitive from it... Not a good habit to start.

Oh yeah. I'm definitely in this group.

I rock back and forth, most of the time not even realizing I'm doing it until it's pointed out to me
I chew the skin around my fingernails until they are ragged, and sometimes bleeding; ditto peeling the skin on my lips
I pick callused skin on my feet.
I pick scabs, bumps and zits on my skin.
I wiggle my toes in my shoes
I shake my knee or foot
I twiddle my thumbs and drum my fingers
I rub my nose a lot. It itches all the time, probably due to hypersensitivity to smells. I've noticed recently that I've broken the blood vessels in it and now it kinda looks like a drunk's nose, even though I don't drink. I used to rub it up until I had a wrinkle across the top of it. Now I rub side to side.
I used to tear paper into little bits, but I stopped doing that years ago.
I used to eat the paper stick when I ate lollipops. I'd chew it off when the candy was gone. I eventually stopped eating the paper, and instead just unroll it now.

I'm a chronic nail/ cuticle biter, I also have a fascination with pulling individual strands of hair out, I like the feeling of it, but it isn't something I do all the time, since I rather like my hair, hah.
Probably the worst would be when I'm extrememly frustrated, usually while playing a game that requires doing multiple things at once, I pretty much punch myself repeatedly in my head.

My Mum, who is autistic, also does this, it's quite disturbing, because she bangs her head on walls/ doors and has looked at me sometimes afterwards with blood running down her face. *shudder*