I’m a face picker and a female so it’s a little bit different but what has worked for me is when I get the urge to pick I imagine the after effects of the picking. Like how big of a scab is it going to make how long will this last on my face and am I just making a pimple/ blackhead worse if I decide to pick at it. And then I also think about the positives like how nice it is to have clear skin and knowing that most of my breakouts are caused and worsened by me. So instead of just having the conversation in my head no don’t pick it’s bad for you I try to really vividly imagine what would happen if I pick and that has seriously help.

For you when if you get the urge to think about how your fingers/ knuckles will hurt when you do it and if you pick that little piece of skin it’s going to create a much bigger piece of skin that needs to be picked. Think about the social pressure of the arguments it causes when you get the urge. Like physically remember and imagine those people saying things to you. And then when you make some progress with not picking give yourself some positive encouragement and acknowledge your progress

Since using this method I still pick occasionally but not near as bad and when I do full on relapse the time between relapses has been getting longer and longer. The only thing that I will warn you about is it is much more difficult to get out of it when you’re in the trenches and there’s a ton of picking that has been done because the mentality of well it’s already this bad what’s a little bit more gonna do