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Body focused Repetitive Behaviours (BFRBs): an overlooked symptom and cause of human distress
Picking, pulling and biting at our hair, skin or nails are normal primate grooming behaviours, but some individuals become stuck in a vicious cycle of over-grooming to the extent that they experience significant physical and psychological distress. Problematic BFRBs are common (approx 5% of the population), but are highly stigmatised, and often overlooked, dismissed or misattributed to conscious choice or psychopathology, rather than being understood as complex biopsychosocial phenomena. In this talk I will deconstruct the stigma surrounding BFRBs, and explore the predisposition, irges, actions and consequences, drawing on insights from comparative and clinical psychology, neuroscience, dermatology and social anthropology. I will describe our initial studies on the experience of BFRBs in adolescence, which is the peak onset for these behaviours, and a time when the experience of intense shame can set up a lifetime of knock-on-problems. I will also include some observations on the experience, challenges and opportunities of becoming a #livedexperiencescientist.
To join online, please use the Zoom details below:
zoom.us/j/93311812405?pwd=9kbjSbEcO2fa7n7gFLZVqrChvr467B.1
Meeting ID: 933 1181 2405 | Passcode: 169396
Date:
20 January 2026, 9:30
Venue:
Department of Psychiatry, Headington OX3 7JX
Venue Details:
Seminar Room
Speaker:
Professor Clare Mackay (Professor of Imaging Neuroscience, Oxford Department of Psychiatry)
Organising department:
Department of Psychiatry
Organiser:
Professor Andrea Cipriani (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address:
rania.elgarf@psych.ox.ac.uk
Host:
Professor Cathy Creswell (University of Oxford)
Part of:
Psychiatry Seminar Series
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Public
Editor:
Rania Elgarf
