From Rock Bottom to ‘Why Not?’ — My Unhinged Path To Healing BFRBs

Trich and derm are not a life sentence. Here’s a list of tools and techniques I tried on my journey to healing skin picking and hair pulling.

I am a trauma-informed coach who helps people with Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRBs) holistically heal from the inside out. I’m also a survivor of dermatillomania and trichotillomania of over 25 years. When I say I understand the struggle and the hopelessness, I mean it with every cell in my body. I’ve lived this. I’ve bled for this. Literally.

And I’ve also healed this.

In this post I list the modalities, therapies, tools and techniques I tried, tested and experimented with on my personal journey of healing dermatillomania and trichotillomania (skin picking and hair pulling).

My Dark Knight of The Soul

I started picking and pulling around age 11. Throughout my entire adolescent and grown up life afterwards there wasn’t a single day I’d go without doing either behavior. By my late teens, I had bald patches on my head and scars all over my face, chest, and shoulders.

What followed was a decade — essentially my entire 20s — lost to deep depression, physical and mental health issues, suicidal ideations, and what felt like a never-ending dark night of the soul. I didn’t just hit rock bottom-I set up camp.

Now 38, I’ve spent the last eight years living between Hawai’i and California, while simultaneously traveling across 6 continents. That gave me unique access to both ends of the healing spectrum: indigenous wisdom and nature-based ancient practices from around the globe, AND the latest neuroscience, technology, and research-backed approaches of western psychology.

Today, I call Venice, California, home. It’s the little pocket of the world where none of the below tools are considered too “out there” or “woo woo.” And honestly, it has been a blessing. My community gave me permission to try everything. With no judgment, just support, encouragement, and — most importantly — access. That alone was healing.

Related: Around the World in 80 Healing Techniques — One Girl’s Journey Back To Health

A Reluctant Trauma Coach

Over time I trained and certified in over a dozen modalities myself-trauma-informed coaching, holistic health coaching, EFT tapping, hypnosis and more. Make no mistake though: I never intended to be a coach. I did it to help myself.

I’m a travel entrepreneur at heart-the founder of eco-luxury wellness hotel brand Heart Core Hotels and the sister nonprofit Heart Core Fund, which organizes travel experiences for kids who’ve never left their neighborhood. But after everything I learned on my own healing journey, I felt a moral responsibility to share what I had access to. For those who don’t. That’s the birth story of **healbfrbs.com**.

I’ve essentially turned my healing process into a living experiment.

Most of the modalities below might surprise you. Some may shock you. I hope at least one gives you a spark of possibility.

I’ve always lived my life in an unconventional way, so it makes sense that my healing was unconventional, too. I had a bigger vision — one that didn’t include spending my life picking, pulling, hiding, concealing and apologizing.

So I did the uncomfortable. The scary. The unhinged. The things people whispered about. But slowly… it worked.

The modern and the ancient walk into a bar…

Without further ado, here is what I tried and tested on my journey to overcoming dermatillomania and trichotillomania, in no particular order:

• Traditional talk therapy — didn’t make too much of a dent, but it’s where I first found language for my pain, and the courage to say it out loud.
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) — helped me see the link between thoughts, feelings, and actions; and notice my patterns instead of being run by them.
• Somatic trauma-informed therapy — taught me what I didn’t know: that my body remembers everything and needs to become part of the healing conversation. The body keeps the score.
• IFS (Internal Family Systems) — helped me meet all my inner parts instead of trying to silence them.
• Dance — when words failed, movement and music became my therapy.
• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) — helped release stored trauma by rewiring how my brain holds memories.
• Habit Reversal Therapy — one of the few therapies made for BFRBs; it taught me how to replace, track, and interrupt automatic behaviors.
• Biohacking — from red light therapy to cold plunges-I explored ways to regulate my nervous system with science.
• Dietary changes & mind-gut connection — gut health changed my mental health. Food became medicine.
• Journaling — my mind on paper. Often raw, always real.
• Habit tracking — visibility creates accountability; you can’t change what you don’t measure.
• Holotropic & other forms of breathwork — breath opened emotional portals I didn’t know existed.
• Mindfulness + various forms of meditation — helped me become the observer, not the victim, of my thoughts.
• 10-day silent Vipassana retreat — no phone, no talking, no running. Just me and my mind-24 hours a day. Brutal. Transformative.
• EFT tapping — emotional acupuncture without needles; surprisingly effective for calming impulses.
• Hypnosis & hypnotherapy — reached places in my subconscious talk therapy could never touch.
• NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) — helped me rewire limiting beliefs and rewrite mental scripts.
• Reiki, Chinese Medicine & energy healing — invited me to see the body as an energetic system, not just a physical one.

• Amen Clinics brain scan — a literal look inside my brain at one of Dr. Daniel amen’s clinics; seeing neural patterns, overactive regions, and deficiencies validated that BFRBs weren’t “willpower problems,” but brain wiring issues that can be supported and changed.
• Nootropics, adaptogenic mushrooms & cognitive-enhancing oils — lion’s mane, cordyceps, functional blends, and MCT oil helped improve focus, reduce brain fog, and support neuroplasticity so my brain could learn how not to pick and pull.
• Red light therapy — both for skin healing (scar repair, inflammation reduction) and for mood regulation; light frequencies impact hormones, collagen, and nervous system calm.
• Chiropractic adjustments (beyond spine alignment) — regular nervous system resets improved blood flow, brain-body communication, emotional release, and surprisingly, mental clarity and reduced compulsive urges.
• Removing lifestyle triggers: toxic mold, EMFs, gluten & other silent stressors — eliminating hidden environmental stress was huge; my nervous system was constantly fighting toxins, and when I removed them, my impulses softened noticeably. Safety isn’t just emotional — it’s physical.
• The F-word: Forgiveness, grace & gratitude — emotional hygiene. BFRBs leave us drowning in shame. These practices rewired my self-talk, softened perfectionism, and helped me treat myself like someone worth healing.
• Sensory deprivation floating pods — weightlessness reduced anxiety, recalibrated my nervous system, and gave my brain true stillness; with no stimulation, my urges quieted down in a way I didn’t know was possible.
• Exposure therapy (facing triggers gently & intentionally) — instead of avoiding mirrors or picking zones forever, I learned how to face them calmly; redefining my relationship with triggers so they lost power.

• Psilocybin microdosing — tiny doses, big perspective shifts; helped open neuroplasticity and self-compassion.
• Ayahuasca ceremonies in the Amazon — with Shipibo, Colombian yagé, and Brazilian lineages. Humbling, incredibly potent medicine. Not a trip — a journey. Here’s why you probably shouldn’t do it.
• Psychedelic integration work with Dr. Will Siu, MD.
• Kambo ceremonies — purging toxins, purging emotions; not for the faint of heart.
• Dr. Joe Dispenza meditations & week-long retreats — neuroscience meets mysticism; rewiring identity for possibility; mind-heart coherence healing. Or, as Dr. Joe would say, breaking the habit of being myself.
• Epigenetics & intergenerational trauma work — I grew up near Auschwitz. The concept of epigenetics was transformational. Healing wasn’t just for me.
• Chakra cleansing & tuning — my throat and root chakras took nearly a decade to open.
• Rapid Resolution Therapy — short-term, powerful emotional reframing.
• Shamanic journeying — vision work meets psychological excavation, with a little help from the spirit world. Arvick Baghramian and Sandra Ingerman were two notable guides.
• Neuroshamanic 1:1 work with Dr Alberto Villoldo — including energetic removal of birth trauma I didn’t know I had… until my mom later confirmed it.
• Past life readings (including with Ainslie MacLeod) — expanded my understanding of patterns beyond this lifetime.
• Soul retrieval sessions — calling back lost parts of myself felt poetic, and profoundly real.
• Ancient Hawaiian Ho’oponopono — self forgiveness as spiritual surgery.
• Visualization, manifestation, vision boards — practicing future-self embodiment.
• Reparenting & inner child work — parenting myself with the exact kind of love I needed.
• Reframing victimhood mindset — everything happens for you not to you. You’re being prepped, not punished.
• Feng Shui — clearing up my home (and my social life by extension) helped shift my mental state.
• Yoga + mind-body connection — eventually led me to become a yoga teacher. Remember how the body keeps the score? Try yoga hip opening poses… Bring Kleenex…
• Sound healing & sound baths — frequency as medicine.
• Myofascial release — trauma stored in tissue; releasing knots released memories too.
• Supplements — NAC, magnesium, high DHA omegas, a superdose of vitamin D, ashwagandha, 5HTP, among others: supporting my brain’s chemistry for a fighting chance.

• HabitAware vibrating bracelet — a wearable wake-up call to interrupt picking.
• Physical blocks — covering mirrors, wearing gloves, hats- healing starts with prevention.
• Skincare upgrades — simplicity, quality, and NO toxic ingredients or shame-based harsh scrubbing. (More on the blog.)
• Professional skincare help — regular microneedling, chemical peels, Hydrafacials. Science meets self-love.
• Doodling, scribbling, coloring books — creativity as distraction and regulation.
• Human Design readings — helped me understand how I’m designed to operate in this world.
• Nature-based ecotherapy — Japanese forest bathing, earthing, grounding; letting nature rewire my nervous system.
• Purification practices — water fasting, hydrocolonics, intermittent fasting-clearing space for renewal.
• Native American teachings & prayers — reverence for spirit, ancestors, and earth.
• Akashic Records and Gene Keys — know thyselves.
• Connecting with Spirit Guides — hence the Dragonfly Journal.
• Running half-marathons and strength training — pain became purpose. Movement became medicine.
• Hiking as soul work — including a 1,000-mile solo pilgrimage with nature and solitude as a therapist.
• Ayurveda — 5,000 years of Indian wisdom reminding me I am one with nature, not separate from it.
• Blue Zones lifestyle principles — community, purpose, slow living, social belonging. Helped me find my soul family and “come out” with BFRBs.
• Sleep tracking & hygiene — REM and deep sleep quality changed everything.
• Kink & BDSM as trauma healing — yes, it’s real. Yes, for some it works. Safe and controlled power dynamics can become vehicles for release and repair. Read more.
• Art therapy — expressing pain without explaining it.
• Mindset work — becoming the version of me who no longer had BFRBs- before it manifested. In person and virtual events with the likes of Eckhart Tolle, Tony Robbins, Gabby Bernstein, Mastin Kipp, Elizabeth Gilbert, MindValley and more.
• Dog therapy — Not actual dog therapy, but cuddles with my chihuahua worked wonders. Perhaps the most underrated medicine of all.

BFRBs are not a life sentence

If you made it to this paragraph and didn’t run away-you deserve a high five for your open heart and open mind. My approach isn’t for everyone. A lot of it may simply not be within reach. Take what resonates, leave what doesn’t.

Let curiosity be your compass.

Bottom line: BFRBs are not a life sentence. They are not something you must “learn to live with.” I personally believe that learning to live with it takes the same level of effort as healing it. You get to choose which path you walk.

Either way, I hope you find freedom. I hope you find peace. And I hope you make the impact — on the world, or simply your world — that you came here to make.

Here’s to your beautifully unhinged new life.

With love and gratitude, Gaby

If you’d like guidance, take my 30 day self-healer course at healbfrbs.com/course. Or if reading this was a full body YES, and you’d like to dive deep with by-the-hand 1:1 guidance, apply for the VIP coaching waitlist at healbfrbs.com/coaching.

Originally published at https://healbfrbs.com on December 1, 2025.

Image source: Unsplash