The Effects of Body-Focused Repetitive Behavior

By: Jiyu Choi 

Abstract 

Body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRB) are conditions where you groom yourself, potentially harming your body. Most behaviors do not have long-lasting, extreme impacts, but they can stimulate pain and bother your body. To the people who struggle with this, they do it out of satisfaction or pleasure, easing the irresistible urge. BFRB usually occurs due to emotional stress, genetics, or is a result of obsessive-compulsive disorder. These behaviors can result from infection of untreated wounds, leading to scars. It can also lead to hair loss if you have hair-picking behaviors. The intensity of the urges can vary depending on your emotional state. It’s different for everyone, from the intensity of the behavior you have. They all have treatments from therapy or medication available today. 

Types of Body-Focused Repetitive Behavior 

Types of body-focused repetitive behavior are usually split into two 

categories–impulsive, more automatic and uncontrollable, or compulsive, more purposeful and deliberate (Kelpin, 2021). Many types of body-focused repetitive behavior disorders cause great harm to human bodies. The most common types are skin picking and hair pulling, otherwise known as dermatillomania for skin and trichotillomania for hair. Many cases cause great harm. This can lead to hair loss and skin damage, causing infections and even scars if it occurs for too long and is left untreated. Other types of body-focused repetitive behavior are teeth grinding, joint cracking, biting skin, lip, nail, or cheeks, picking nails, nose, and even eating hair. These all create damage to your body, causing irritation and pressure against your body. It can create lasting impacts that can get worse and worse if the behavior continues and is not treated. Though usually, if these behaviors only include small acts, they will not cause huge physical damage, but only small scars with bleeding patches. Body-focused repetitive behaviors can be caused by genetics, especially if previous generations had this disorder. It can also be a way of coping against negative emotions, as a way of managing emotional regulation, and as a distraction when one feels overstimulated or even understimulated. If you have high levels of anxiety or trauma, then it might be easier for you to develop this behavior. All of these types of body-focused repetitive behaviors impact people daily, no matter how small or big the acts are. (Cleveland, 2024) 

Treatment of Body-Focused Repetitive Behavior 

Body-focused repetitive behaviors are curable with a lot of patience and work. Habit reversal therapy is the most effective treatment, which is when one learns other hobbies that can overpower and lessen the body-focused repetitive behaviors. This takes four specific steps that

should be done in order and well. The first step is awareness training, which is when they simply monitor and see the severity of the behaviors. As the professionals gather information, they can proceed to the next step according to what they know about your behaviors. They use this information to plan behavioral therapy in the best, most efficient way. The next step is to find out which alternate behaviors help distract them from body-focused repetitive behavior. Most of the time, many people find comfort and help in fidgeting with things. This allows them to pour their focus onto the object instead of their body. The third step is to strengthen the actions that help stimulate their relaxation and comfort, making it more automatic rather than turning to body-focused repetitive behavior right away. The fourth, and last, is essentially making these habits their first response and holding back from relapsing (Kelpin, 2021). 

Conclusion 

Body-focused repetitive behaviors are a group of behaviors, and all of them have similar impacts on the human body, small but harmful. Some might be unexpected, or seem normal, such as things like nail-biting or thumb sucking, but they do have an impact on your body. It can lead to lasting effects if not treated as soon as possible, and those “accidental” small wounds can soon turn into huge impacts like infections. Fortunately, there are treatments available in today’s world, ranging from therapy to medication to calm urges that might be clawing at you. 

References 

Cleveland Clinic. (2024). Body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB) disorders. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/body-focused-repetitive-behavior-bfrb 

Mayo Clinic. (2021). What are body-focused repetitive behaviors, and how are they treated? https://www.selectivemutism.org/treatment-statement/