Book excerpt: Maybe you’ve encountered tips on how to stop in the past. While they probably helped, they never took you all the way. How to Heal Your BFRB teaches you why you weren't healing before and, more important, how to start healing now. Almost no time will be spent on what a body-focused repetitive behavior is, or who tends to have one. You know what a BFRB is, you have one or a few, and you just want to stop. While you may even have come to believe healing isn’t possible, it’s absolutely possible for you to overcome your BFRB. For seventeen years, author Lauren I. Ruiz Bloise compulsively skin-picked before developing these four steps, which she later learned correlate with proven body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB) treatments. That said, this guide is simple, not medical or academic. Despite the complicated names for these disorders (excoriation, dermatillomania, trichotillomania, onychophagy, dermatophagia), How to Heal Your BFRB is a reader-friendly guide that walks you through concrete steps so you can feel in control rather than desperate, confident rather than ashamed—so your hair, skin, or nails can be nicer, clearer, and fuller. Join others who are already healing. Take the chance. After all, How to Heal Your BFRB is more affordable than (or about as affordable as) one high-quality skin or hair care product, only it’s much more beneficial than even the best beauty product you can buy. This Ebook Is for You If… • You have dermatillomania (skin picking), trichotillomania (hair pulling), onychophagia (nail biting or chewing), dermatophagia (skin biting or chewing), or any other disorder in the long list of compulsive BFRBs. • You target blemishes (zits, pimples, blackheads, whiteheads, milia), ingrowns, and the like. • Or you target hairs (on head, lashes, brows, beard); nails, fingers, cheeks, feet, scalp, nose, eyes; or something else. • You’ve tried over and over to stop, to no avail. • You’ve covered mirrors, used gloves, downloaded apps, or marked a calendar, among many other things. • You’re unsure why you do it. • Or you have an idea why you pick, pull, or chew, but you still haven't been able to heal to a meaningful extent. While How to Heal Your BFRB is intended to be followed by teens and adults who have a BFRB, if your family member (child, partner, parent) or friend has a BFRB, you are welcome to download and read it. The more you know about how people are overcoming these behaviors, the more you can help and support them. Even if you have made progress on your own, or encountered treatments for how to stop picking or pulling already, let How to Heal Your BFRB give you new insights and further healing, as well as encouragement. How to Heal Your BFRB is not about anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), addiction to substances or alcohol, or any of the other mental health conditions related to body-focused repetitive behaviors, but it’s understood that you may have one or more of these disorders too. To make recovery easier, you're highly encouraged to address any of these alongside reading the book, and thereafter. That said, all are welcome! *** “Wow, I know a book can only do so much, but yours exceeded my expectations. A lot! I came away with: · Confidence that I can be in control of my BFRB health (and other areas of my health) · More acceptance of myself · Tools and guidance to help me take better care of myself · The desire and motivation to experience the 3 items above "It was about more than healing a BFRB. There were several points where I was moved by the caring messages you conveyed. You were talking to and caring about ME.”—Teresa G., Vermont