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A New Device Promises to Help You Stop Picking Your Skin. Will It Work?
The Keen2 wearable wants to train you to stop body-focused repetitive behaviors, but there’s little evidence to show that it works
Body-focused repetitive behaviors, or BFRBs, are common, but massively under-studied, disorders in which people repeatedly touch their bodies in ways that can inadvertently cause physical pain and harm. People with trichotillomania, which is perhaps the most well-known BFRB, pull out their hair (on their head, their eyebrows, or their eyelashes). People with excoriation, or skin-picking disorder, rub, dig into, or scratch their own skin, sometimes causing scars, while those with onychophagia bite their nails, often to the point of bleeding.
One in 20 people have a BFRB, yet there’s very little research on the conditions or treatments available. A new wearable bracelet, the Keen2, aims to help people with BFRBs by raising their awareness of their own condition, while its companion app provides users with strategies on how to incorporate Habit Reversal Training, a primary treatment method for the condition, into their lives. Other devices profess similar aims, such as the Slightly Robot, which vibrates when users touch their face, and the Pavlok, in which users self-administer either a…
