Few issues encourage concern in college students as reliably as exams. Except you’re one of many blissful few who a) have a photographic reminiscence or b) benefit from the thrill of all of it (I’m informed these folks exist), assessments are inherently traumatic, and none extra so than ultimate college examinations. In my friendship group alone, throughout Finals, one individual developed insomnia, one other stopped stomaching stable meals, and another person satisfied themselves they’d failed every thing. All of us had our idiosyncratic methods of coping, starting from exemplary (exercising typically) to mildly regarding (day by day ‘crying breaks’). Different methods had been shared, comparable to attempting to get sufficient sleep. Nonetheless others had been much less seen – and presumably much less intentional.
Someday, throughout peak examination season, I walked into the library and was struck by the variety of folks biting their nails or selecting at their pores and skin. I had just lately learnt of body-focused repetitive behaviours (BFRBs), a catch-all time period for such behaviours which, once they trigger harm and impairment or misery regardless of efforts to cease, warrant a scientific analysis (American Psychiatric Affiliation, 2013). One instance is pores and skin selecting (excoriation) dysfunction (SPD), which happens in roughly 3.5% of most people (Farhat et al., 2023). Regardless of its widespread nature, little is known about what causes or maintains SPD (e.g. this weblog discusses interoception as a doubtlessly related issue). Nevertheless, in step with my observations within the library, one influential idea views BFRBs together with skin-picking as a way to handle emotion (Roberts et al., 2013). Accordingly, a current systematic overview by Barber and Fitzgerald (2025) has explored the connection between emotion regulation and SPD in additional element.
Physique-focused repetitive behaviours, together with hair-pulling, skin-picking and nail-biting, have been linked to emotion dysregulation and could also be a approach for folks to handle their emotions.
Strategies
The authors searched three databases for revealed English-language research that explored whether or not:
- emotion regulation differed in grownup SPD sufferers in comparison with wholesome controls,
- emotion regulation difficulties predicted SPD severity, or
- the impact of emotion regulation on targeted (intentional) in comparison with computerized (unconscious) selecting (Walther et al., 2009).
Individuals had been adults throughout the vary of SPD severity (i.e., nonclinical, subclinical and scientific ranges); phenomena associated to emotion regulation (e.g., misery tolerance, experiential avoidance and alexithymia) had been additionally included. The overview didn’t embrace any gray literature or non-English-language papers; the researchers additionally didn’t seek the advice of consultants within the area, however they did search reference lists for extra related research.
The authors used the JBI Important Appraisal Guidelines (Munn et al., 2023; Porritt et al., 2014) to critically appraise the standard of included research, which had been all reported as top quality.
Outcomes
Nineteen papers had been included within the systematic overview, with pattern sizes starting from 18-285 contributors. Of those, 9 research confirmed that SPD sufferers (and BFRB samples normally) had greater ranges of emotion dysregulation in comparison with wholesome controls. Individuals with pores and skin selecting additionally:
- Had extra bother understanding (i.e., figuring out and describing) their feelings and had been much less tolerant of psychological misery
- Have been much less prone to distance themselves from struggling than controls, implying that they might turn into trapped by tough feelings that they expertise as extra insupportable than the overall inhabitants
- (In a single research) exhibited extra experiential avoidance (an inclination to keep away from emotion-provoking experiences) than these with out.
Total, these research suggest that folks with problematic skin-picking might wrestle to know, tolerate and handle their emotions, which might contribute to SPD.
If folks with SPD wrestle to manage their feelings, robust emotions might have an effect on their behaviour otherwise to controls. Accordingly, three research discovered that SPD sufferers wrestle to manage impulses, pursue targets and cope adaptively when experiencing tough feelings. When it comes to particular methods, these with skin-picking could also be notably impaired at cognitive reappraisal (pondering otherwise in regards to the emotional scenario) moderately than expressive suppression (hiding their emotions), however this discovering doesn’t all the time replicate. There’s additionally some controversy about whether or not people with skin-picking have much less emotional consciousness, readability and acceptance than controls, with totally different research offering proof for and in opposition to this risk. Total, though emotion regulation does appear reliably impaired in SPD, it therefore stays unsure how precisely this deficit manifests when it comes to ideas and actions.
Considerably surprisingly, though these with and with out SPD have totally different emotion regulation profiles, emotion dysregulation doesn’t reliably correlate with skin-picking or BFRB severity. Research supporting such a correlation are contradicted by others failing to take action; including to this confusion, experiential avoidance seems to foretell SPD signs while misery tolerance doesn’t. Moreover, when it comes to particular methods, skin-picking severity appears utterly unrelated to expressive suppression and at greatest weakly associated to cognitive reappraisal. Though emotion regulation might not predict skin-picking normally, 5 research revealed that emotion regulation and associated constructs persistently predicted targeted selecting; associations with computerized pores and skin selecting had been weak or nonsignificant, and associations with emotion regulation methods had been inconclusive. Therefore, emotion regulation issues (however not essentially reappraisal or suppression) could also be notably associated to a sure sort of skin-picking moderately than SPD normally.
Pores and skin-picking sufferers appear to have bother understanding, tolerating and regulating feelings, and will wrestle to assume otherwise about emotion-provoking occasions.
Conclusions
Total, the systematic overview helps the position of emotion dysregulation and associated elements (e.g., misery tolerance, alexithymia, experiential avoidance) in problematic skin-picking, implying that emotion regulation might play a task within the onset or upkeep of SPD.
These findings align with the emotion regulation mannequin of BFRBs, which views skin-picking as a approach for people to handle intense emotional states (Roberts et al., 2013).
Nevertheless, some key questions stay unanswered, together with why emotion regulation doesn’t reliably predict SPD severity, how particular emotion regulation methods relate to skin-picking and whether or not there may be really a distinction between targeted and computerized selecting.
Though folks with and with out skin-picking differ when it comes to emotion regulation, the severity of emotion dysregulation just isn’t related to the severity of skin-picking.
Strengths and limitations
A power of the systematic overview included its complete search technique spanning three tutorial databases along with quotation looking primarily based on the reference lists of accessible papers. Nevertheless, the search was restricted to revealed research in peer-reviewed journals and might due to this fact have missed related papers. As journals are much less prone to publish nonsignificant findings, the overview dangers overestimating the affiliation between emotion regulation and SPD. As many results had been already fairly small, the conclusions made should therefore stay tentative.
Future work ought to mitigate the hazard of publication bias by increasing the search to incorporate gray literature. It will even be useful to seek the advice of with consultants who might pay attention to further unpublished or presently ongoing work. Together with non-English language research would additional enhance the comprehensiveness of the overview, as we threat lacking key research in any other case.
The authors did, nonetheless, use a standardised guidelines to guage the methodological rigour of included papers and transparently reported the outcomes of this evaluation. As all had been of sufficiently top quality, we could be assured of their findings. To additional enhance transparency and openness, the researchers might have supplied key statistics and precision estimates for all research, which might assist the reader come to their very own impartial and totally knowledgeable conclusions in regards to the power of the relationships noticed.
The informativeness of any overview is essentially restricted by that of the research included. Right here, most research had been cross-sectional (carried out at one time level), so it’s unclear whether or not emotion regulation predicts pores and skin selecting over time or vice versa. Future work ought to reply this question by following up contributors longitudinally. It will even be helpful to research whether or not the findings generalise to younger folks, who had been excluded from the present overview. Certainly, the sampling technique of the overview might not have been splendid: along with skin-picking samples, the authors included sufferers with BFRBs extra broadly. Though we now have causes to imagine totally different BFRBs should not dissimilar (Moritz et al., 2023), it might have been useful to discover whether or not emotion regulation patterns differ between these teams.
Though there seems to be a relationship between emotion dysregulation and skin-picking, it’s unclear which comes first and whether or not there’s a causal affiliation between the 2.
Implications for follow
Though extra analysis is required to substantiate the present findings, the overview has necessary scientific implications. Firstly, if emotion dysregulation contributes to SPD, a promising remedy avenue might contain instructing purchasers to raised handle their feelings. As highlighted by the authors, dialectical behaviour remedy (DBT) and acceptance and dedication remedy (ACT) explicitly goal emotional processing and will due to this fact assist to alleviate skin-picking (see this weblog for a overview of rising therapies together with DBT and ACT). DBT and ACT are presently under-researched in SPD so, earlier than incorporating them into scientific follow, we first want to check whether or not they successfully scale back signs and the way they examine to therapies with out emotional components.
Furthermore, as folks with and with out skin-picking reliably differ when it comes to emotion regulation, the authors highlighted how emotion processing deficits might assist determine folks weak to growing SPD. Longitudinal analysis should verify whether or not that is certainly attainable; if that’s the case, we might present at-risk people with focused help to stop problematic skin-picking. Furthermore, if enhancing emotional processing reduces this threat, the findings would help the case for instructing emotion regulation in faculties (Hoffmann et al., 2020). Though the proof base is arguably too preliminary to tell coverage at current, the findings trace at potential future interventions which might assist scale back the struggling brought on by SPD.
The proof additionally opens up thrilling avenues for future work. Alongside the necessity for longitudinal research, it might be fascinating to discover whether or not incorporating emotion regulation abilities in remedy for sufferers with SPD improves outcomes over and above present therapies. As purchasers appear notably impaired at cognitive reappraisal (moderately than expressive suppression), future work ought to first verify this discovering after which examine the impact of focusing on totally different emotion regulation methods on skin-picking signs. Furthermore, current analysis has questioned the excellence between targeted and computerized BFRBs, highlighting that they might not comprise really distinct subtypes (Grant & Chamberlain, 2021). The sphere thus first must make clear whether or not it’s significant to delineate between targeted and computerized skin-picking and, if that’s the case, set up extra conclusively whether or not emotion dysregulation is especially central to one in every of these subtypes.
So, had been my fellow college students actually selecting their pores and skin in an try to alleviate examination anxiousness? Or was I simply sensitised to BFRBs, just lately having learnt about these behaviours? The previous definitely makes for a greater story. Sadly, although, even when people with skin-picking wrestle to manage their feelings, this doesn’t essentially imply skin-picking helps them to take action. It might even be making issues worse. All I can do is await extra analysis and hope to be forgiven for spinning this neat and tidy (albeit barely deceptive) anecdote within the interim.
If emotion dysregulation is an element sustaining skin-picking, constructing emotion regulation abilities in remedy might assist to scale back signs and alleviate struggling.
Assertion of pursuits
Daisy Reducing has no conflicts of curiosity to reveal with respect to the content material of this weblog submit.
Edited by
Dr Nina Higson-Sweeney.
Hyperlinks
Main paper
Kathryn E. Barber, & Jacklynn M. Fitzgerald. (2025). Emotion regulation deficits in pores and skin selecting (excoriation) dysfunction: A scientific overview. Journal of Affective Issues, 388, 119500. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2025.119500
Different references
American Psychiatric Affiliation (2013). Diagnostic and statistical handbook of psychological problems: DSM-V. American Psychiatric Affiliation.
Farhat, L. C., Reid, M., Bloch, M. H., & Olfson, E. (2023). Prevalence and gender distribution of excoriation (skin-picking) dysfunction: A scientific overview and meta-analysis. Journal of Psychiatric Analysis, 161, 412–418. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2023.03.034
Grant, J. E., & Chamberlain, S. R. (2021). Computerized and targeted hair pulling in trichotillomania: Legitimate and helpful subtypes? Psychiatry Analysis, 306, 114269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2021.114269
Hoffmann, J. D., Brackett, M. A., Bailey, C. S., & Willner, C. J. (2020). Instructing emotion regulation in faculties: Translating analysis into follow with the RULER method to social and emotional studying. Emotion, 20(1), 105–109. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000649
Isibor, M., & Higson-Sweeney, N. (2025). Contained in the urge: Interoception, affective contact, and the rising science of skin-picking dysfunction. The Psychological Elf.
Munn, Z., Stone, J.C., Aromataris, E., Klugar, M., Sears, Okay., Leonardi-Bee, J., Barker, T.H. (2023). Assessing the danger of bias of quantitative analytical research: Introducing the imaginative and prescient for vital appraisal inside JBI systematic critiques. JBI Proof Synthesis, 21(3), 467–471. https://doi.org/10.11124/jbies-22-00224.
Moritz, S., Penney, D., Mißmann, F., Snorrason, I., & Schmotz, S. (2023). Identical however totally different? Phenomenological variations amongst numerous kinds of body-focused repetitive behaviors. Annals of Scientific Psychiatry, 35(4), 252–259. https://doi.org/10.12788/acp.0123
Porritt, Okay., Gomersall, J., Lockwood, C., 2014. JBI’S systematic critiques: Examine choice and important appraisal. American Journal of Nursing, 114(6), 47–52. https://doi.org/10.1097/01
Roberts, S., O’Connor, Okay., & Bélanger, C. (2013). Emotion regulation and different psychological fashions for body-focused repetitive behaviors. Scientific Psychology Overview, 33(6), 745–762. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2013.05.004n
Sampson, C. (2018). Is third-wave CBT good worth?. The Psychological Elf.
Walther, M. R., Flessner, C. A., Conelea, C. A., & Woods, D. W. (2009). The Milwaukee Stock for the Dimensions of Grownup Pores and skin Choosing (MIDAS): Preliminary improvement and psychometric properties. Journal of Habits Remedy and Experimental Psychiatry, 40(1), 127–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2008.07.002
