Compulsive Finger Picking and Pain

People suffering from compulsions to pick their fingers, skin, hair, etc. are usually “in it” for various reasons. Though many of these reasons border on the irrational, one particularly strange motivation is the deliberate seeking of physical pain.

Pain as Pleasure in Compulsive Pickers

Those who engage in deliberately destructive behavior like picking the fingernails and cuticles with the goal of causing themselves pain are said to be engaging in self-harm. When the “weapon” is a knife or sharp object — and not just the pinching fingers of the opposite hand — we nickname these people “cutters”.

Pain Caused by Compulsive Picking

Pickers who are not out for the thrill of painful sensations from their picking may still have a complicated relationship with pain:

• Fingers that are always sore and callused from picking are a constant, low-grade pain
• Picking the fingers or skin to the point of acute pain — often drawing blood — can be a sign that your habit is bordering on the obsessive