User:Mr. Ibrahem/Body-focused repetitive behavior
Medical condition / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB) is a group of psychiatric disorders were people repeatedly harm part of their body by either pulling or picking at it.[4] Specific behaviors may include nail biting, lip biting, or cheek chewing.[1] People are unable to stop these behaviors despite trying to do so.[3] Complications may include nail damage.[3]
Body-focused repetitive behavior | |
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Other names | Body-focused repetitive behavior disorder (BFRBD) |
Knuckle biting resulting in disfiguration of the skin over the joints of the middle and little fingers | |
Specialty | Psychiatry |
Symptoms | Nail biting, lip biting, cheek chewing[1] |
Differential diagnosis | Hair pulling disorder, skin picking disorder, stereotypic movement disorder, self-harm, normal habits[1][2] |
Treatment | Counselling, medications[3] |
Medication | SSRIs, N-acetylcysteine[3] |
It is within the category of obsessive-compulsive and related disorders.[1] In the DSM-5, body-focused repetitive behavior disorder (BFRBD) is only diagnosed if the symptoms are not better explained by hair pulling disorder or skin picking disorder.[1] Other sources; however, include those two disorders as types of BFRBD.[4] Diagnosis requires the behavior to occur to such a degree that functioning is impaired or distress occurs.[3][2] Additionally the behavior must be unrelated to efforts to change ones appearance.[3]
Treatment may include counselling, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, and medications, such as SSRIs or N-acetylcysteine.[3] Cognitive behavioral therapy may involve increasing awareness around when the behavior occurs, efforts to avoid triggers, and attempts to replace the specific behavior with something else like knitting.[3] While these behaviors have been described throughout history, it was in the late 1800s that they were named as health problem.[5] Hair pulling disorder was first included in the DSM in 1987 while skin picking disorder was officially included in 2013.[5]