Hi everyone,
I hope this is the correct area to be posting this. I did some googling and couldn’t find any results relating to my problem so I’m beginning to feel like I might be one of few people struggling with this.
I’ve spoken to a few psychologists over the past few years and have been diagnosed with anxiety and depression, but I’ve never told a healthcare professional about this fear of mine so I have no idea if it’s part of the anxiety or something else entirely.
I’m horribly afraid of any kind of skin injury—bruises, cuts, scrapes, even the tiniest scratch. I plan out any action before doing it to prevent injury, my risk calculation is off the charts (I won’t fiddle with anything that looks like it could hurt me) and if I do happen to accidentally get hurt (even the smallest cut), I start hyperventilating and crying and frantically rushing to do first aid. All because I don’t want scars.
I know how vain this is, but it really is consuming my life at this point. I currently have a small abrasion on the back of my hand and have been carefully nursing it for days, crying and stressing over it and spent hours researching thewound healing process. This fear takes over my thoughts and I want to be normal. I’m 21 and was never like this as a child or through most of my teens. This all started around 19 onwards when I started dating my current boyfriend and wanting to be “perfect” for him, I guess.
Does anyone know what is happening to me or why I’m like this? My family thinks I’m vain and a crybaby, but I know there’s something deeper to it.
Thank you.
