BFRB Therapy

Skin Picking & Hair Pulling Therapy in Garden City, Long Island NY & Online

When your hands move before you even realize it, or you find yourself picking or pulling while feeling “checked out” or on edge, it can feel frustrating, confusing, and hard to control.

BFRBs, or Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors, are conditions where a person repeatedly picks, pulls, bites, or damages parts of their own body, often automatically or in response to stress, anxiety, boredom, or emotional overload.

BFRB therapy helps you understand and reduce behaviors like skin picking and hair pulling so you can feel more in control, less ashamed, and more at ease in your body and mind.

Book a Free 15-Minute Consult

Reasons You Could Benefit From BFRB Therapy

You’ve Probably Tried to “Just Stop” Before

You become aware of the behavior after it’s already started, or you notice it most when you're stressed, bored, anxious, overwhelmed, or zoning out.

But instead of stopping long-term, the cycle keeps repeating: urge, behavior, relief, regret.

You spend time picking, pulling, biting, or checking without meaning to
You feel embarrassed, frustrated, or ashamed after the behavior
You’ve tried to stop many times, but the behavior keeps coming back
You notice urges increase during stress, boredom, anxiety, or emotional overwhelm
You lose track of time while picking or pulling
You avoid certain hairstyles, clothing, mirrors, photos, or social situations
You feel stuck in a cycle of urges, behaviors, and regret
You want practical tools that address the behavior rather than relying on willpower alone

Does This Sound Like You?

You Might Be Struggling With a BFRB If You...

✓ Pick at skin, scabs, blemishes, or imperfections even when you don't want to
✓ Pull hair from your scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes, beard, or other areas
✓ Feel tension, discomfort, or an urge building before the behavior
✓ Experience relief, satisfaction, or a sense of “spacing out” while doing it
✓ Feel guilt, embarrassment, frustration, or shame afterward
✓ Try to stop repeatedly but find yourself doing it automatically
✓ Use tweezers, mirrors, tools, or your hands in repetitive ways
✓ Notice the behavior gets worse during stress, boredom, anxiety, or emotional overwhelm
✓ Avoid mirrors, photos, social situations, or certain activities because of appearance concerns

Types of BFRBs

Types of BFRBs I Work With

Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors can take many forms. While the behaviors may look different on the surface, they often share common patterns involving urges, automatic habits, emotional regulation, and difficulty stopping despite repeated efforts.

Excoriation Disorder (Skin Picking)

Recurrent skin picking that leads to skin damage, distress, or difficulty controlling the behavior.

Trichotillomania (Hair Pulling)

Repeated pulling of hair from the scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes, beard, or other areas of the body.

Nail Biting (Onychophagia)

Chronic nail biting that continues despite attempts to stop and may lead to physical damage or embarrassment.

Lip or Cheek Biting

Repeated biting, chewing, or picking at the inside of the mouth, lips, or cheeks.

Scab Picking & Grooming Behaviors

Repeated picking, scratching, squeezing, or grooming behaviors that become difficult to control.

Other Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors

Other repetitive behaviors involving the body that create distress, interfere with daily life, or feel difficult to stop.

BFRB Therapy Can Help

Skin Picking and Hair Pulling Therapy in Garden City, Long Island NY & Online Can Help

BFRBs often feel automatic, like your hands move before your thoughts catch up.

Even when you want to stop, the urge can feel strong, physical, and hard to resist. Many people describe going into a “trance-like” state or realizing it only after the behavior has already happened.

You do not have to stay stuck in this cycle. Change is possible with the right support and tools.

Benefits of Therapy for BFRB's

BFRB Therapy Isn't About Trying Harder

It's about understanding the patterns behind skin picking, hair pulling, and other repetitive behaviors so you can respond differently and feel more in control.
Increase awareness of urges and triggers
Reduce automatic picking or pulling behaviors
Learn healthier ways to manage stress and anxiety
Interrupt the urge–behavior–relief cycle
Build body awareness and self-regulation skills
Reduce shame and improve self-compassion
Regain confidence in social and daily life
Feel more present and less controlled by urges

My Approach to BFRB Therapy

BFRBs are not simply a matter of willpower. They are complex behaviors that often serve a function, whether that's managing stress, regulating emotions, reducing tension, or operating outside of awareness.

1

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

We identify thoughts, emotions, situations, and patterns that contribute to the behavior and explore more effective ways of responding.

2

Stimulus Control Strategies

We make practical changes to your environment that reduce opportunities for picking or pulling and help interrupt automatic patterns.

3

Awareness Training

We work on recognizing urges, triggers, and early warning signs so you can respond before the behavior takes over.

4

Competing Responses & Skill Building

Together, we'll develop alternative responses and self-regulation skills that make it easier to tolerate urges without acting on them.

Each treatment plan is personalized to your specific patterns, triggers, and goals. Some work focuses on increasing awareness of urges, while other parts focus on changing the environment, building competing responses, and reducing emotional triggers.

The goal is not just to “stop the behavior,” but to help you feel more in control, less ashamed, and more connected to your daily life and body.

Take the Next Step

Reach Out to a Skin Picking and Hair Pulling Therapist in Garden City, NY & Online Today

If you're tired of the cycle of urges, relief, and regret, therapy can help you break it and build lasting change.

You don't have to manage this alone.

Book a Free 15-Minute Consult

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs) are repetitive behaviors directed toward the body. Common BFRBs include skin picking and hair pulling. These behaviors can become difficult to control and may cause physical injury, distress, or interference with daily life.

  • Skin picking disorder, also known as excoriation disorder, involves recurrent picking at the skin that can be difficult to control. Repeated picking may cause wounds, irritation, bleeding, or scarring.

  • Hair pulling disorder, also known as trichotillomania, involves recurrent urges to pull out hair. Hair may be pulled from the scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes, or other areas of the body.

  • BFRBs can happen for different reasons and may become associated with particular situations, emotions, sensations, or routines. Some people engage in the behavior automatically without fully noticing it, while others experience a strong urge or tension before engaging in the behavior.

  • Yes. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can help address the thoughts, behaviors, situations, and patterns that contribute to skin picking and hair pulling. Treatment is individualized based on the specific BFRB and the way it occurs.


  • CBT for BFRBs may focus on identifying triggers and patterns, increasing awareness of the behavior, understanding urges and sensations, and developing alternative ways to respond. Treatment can also address thoughts and emotions that may contribute to or maintain the behavior.

  • Some BFRBs occur automatically, such as while watching television, working, studying, or driving, without full awareness. Others are more focused and involve a conscious urge to pick or pull. Understanding which patterns are present can help guide treatment.


  • Therapy can help you better understand your urges and behavioral patterns and develop strategies for interrupting or reducing the behavior. Treatment goals are individualized based on your symptoms and circumstances.


  • Yes. CBT for skin picking and hair pulling is available in Garden City for clients throughout Long Island.

  • Yes. Virtual therapy for skin picking and hair pulling is available throughout New York when appropriate.

  • Therapy may be helpful if skin picking or hair pulling feels difficult to control, causes physical damage or scarring, takes up significant time, or leads to distress, embarrassment, avoidance, or interference with daily life.

  • Learn more about CBT for skin picking and hair pulling in Long Island and how treatment can be tailored to your individual patterns, triggers, urges, and goals.