What's in a name?
Continuing on with key takeaways and insights from The Great BFRB Get-Together last weekend...
BFRBs aren't really talked about in most settings. So it's no wonder that when people start noticing their picking or pulling behavior that they don't have a name for it... or even know about others who do the exact same thing!
Enter: shame and isolation.
Recurring theme #3:
Having a name for the behavior is liberating.
In addition to remembering the first time they met someone else with a BFRB, people also remember very clearly the first time they learned that their behavior had a name.
I loved Lauren Mckeany's story: She was admitted to the hospital for treatment of a picking-induced skin infection and while there, she overheard a nurse saying the name of this thing she knew all too well. She had entered the hospital unable to explain to anyone why she couldn't stop picking and left proclaiming that she had skin picking disorder!
What's so important about having a name?
It gives us language to describe what's going on. It takes a novel's worth of words – about behaviors, experiences, and emotions – and condenses it all into one word or phrase.
It tells us we're not alone. If a word already exists for what we've been doing, there must be others out there who have struggled with the same thing! A name helps us feel less isolated.
That's why it's so important – not just for BFRB Awareness Week, but year-round – to speak up about your experience and spread the word that BFRBs exist. You never know who could learn about it for the first time from you!
