Severe lip-picking since child? what does this mean?

[moon777light]

Hey so i have this one "habit" if you will which is where i will pick the skin of my lips for absolutley no reason until it bleeds, and usually ill even continue until my lips are completely bloody. I noticed it happens most often when im home alone or studying, never in public, and most when i have tests/much schoolwork. Back in highschool i use to pick my lips sometimes, but now in college its nonstop. I saw a school photo back when i was in 2nd grade (i think i was 7 or so) and was shocked to see that my lips were all crusty and bloody too. i go through several tubes of chapstick a month to attempt to stop it but that doesnt work. Ive read books and watched youtube videos that say that everything, every action, has something subconscious behind it that is causing me to do this action. How can i uncover and stop this action? something so deep that i had since a child? thats nearly 2 decades worth of anxiety-driven lippicking?

[littleBIG]

I do the same thing. I just dont like the skins that are growing back on the lips, so whenever they try to grow back I bite them right off again and they never end up recovering. 

[iamme]

@moon777light I don't think it's necessary for you to reveal and address the subconscious cause for biting your lips. It could be anything, maybe something someone said or did in your early childhood. 

Should be enough to decide you like your lips instead of punish them and replace your negative behaviour with something else.

It's not so easy to just stop a negative habit but it's much easier to replace it with something else. 

Whenever you catch yourself biting your lips say to yourself "oh but I like my lips" and smile.

[Nahm]

@moon777light What’d you get out of this, when you began to do it? Attention? Perhaps an attempt take the focus off someone else’s pain? What were the major events for your immediate family members around the time you starting doin this? A move, a parent lost job, divorce, etc. ? 

[moon777light]

@nahm no idea. thats what im trying to figure out. maybe attention? since i still have that issue to this day of wanting it and feeling excluded. and being yelled at lol

[abrakamowse]

@moon777light  did you try mindful meditation? Observing your thoughts?

I do it from a long time, and I am trying also to be free from some compulsive things that I do, because there's a thought, or because I see something I just go and buy it. Or I just see food and I want to eat when I am not hungry.

So after mindful meditation, I can notice when the urge appears, and I can observe that happening but it gives me the opportunity to not do that.

It's like training the ego to do what YOU really want and not what she wants...

Hope this helps

[ajasatya]

On 26/03/2018 at 5:07 PM, moon777light said:

How can i uncover and stop this action?

concentration and willpower.

don't be slave of destructive habits, no matter what they are.

stop trying to find a reason and quit the bad habit already. focus and stop. that's how we destroy bad habits. stop lip-picking and face the anxiety that will arise from abstinence at once.

[Nahm]

@moon777light You can sit in meditation, focus on breathe, and an understanding will arise. Allow it to pass, and a deeper understanding arises. This can go on forever. Choose to do it though. It’ll pop up, and you’ll be like holy shit! And free of it. You are stronger, wiser, and more powerful than you know. 

[moon777light]

Everybody thank you so much for the answers, i will start by meditating. 

I would try to quit it cold turkey but sometimes im not even aware im doing it. Like today, i just remember my mom asking oh my god your lips look horrible and i check the mirror and they look like a snake bit me. I think i need to first stop the anxiety thats probably causing it 

[abrakamowse]

@moon777light It's like meditation. When you notice you are doing it, observe what you are doing. Just by doing that you will stop.

Don't worry if it takes longer to realize that you are doing it. With training you will be noticing when you do it more frequently, until it stops.

[Guest Quanty]

Throat Chakra needs harmony. 

[SoothedByRain]

Dermatillomania or Excoriation Disorder. I'm not sure if lips fall under this category. I'm sure it does. I can't answer the cause of your unconscious actions but I thought I'd share the term in case it is new to you.

Some people really damage themselves and end up going through therapy etc to deal with it all. I learnt the term by chatting with a woman who had been picking at her skin since her early teens. 

 

Edited May 10, 2018 by SoothedByRain

[Ether]

You have been craving for it...Haha jk

[Joseph Maynor]

Maybe your lips are dehydrated. Try drinking more water.  Use some chapstick as well.