ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Anxiety and Stress Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1645958
Effects of Open-Label Placebos and Self-Monitoring in Skin-Picking Disorder: A Randomized
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Graz, Graz, Austria
- 2Universitat Graz, Graz, Austria
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Background: Symptom reduction in skin-picking disorder (SPD) has previously been demonstrated using deceptive placebo treatments. However, to date, no study has investigated the effects of openlabel placebos (OLPs) in this context.Method: Fifty-two participants (mean age = 30 years, 85% female) with pathological skin-picking took part in a clinical crossover trial. The study included daily app-assisted symptom monitoring over two conditions: two weeks of OLP treatment (one pill per day) and two weeks without OLP treatment.No pharmacological treatment was given to reduce skin-picking during the trial. Symptom severity was measured using a disorder-specific questionnaire administered at baseline and after each two-week condition (OLP, no OLP) along with daily app ratings of symptom severity.Results: Both self-monitoring with and without OLP treatment resulted in reduced questionnaire scores compared to baseline. Daily app-based ratings showed a modest reduction (-3%) in the urge to engage in skin-picking and the time spent picking (-6 minutes/day) during the OLP condition.Participants generally adhered well to the pill-taking protocol, though many were skeptic toward the OLP treatment.When used as a stand-alone-intervention, OLP treatment demonstrated only minimal effects beyond those achieved through self-monitoring.
Keywords: Open-label placebo, Skin-picking, app-assisted, Self-Monitoring, Body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs)
Received: 12 Jun 2025; Accepted: 20 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Schienle, Wabnegger and Tanzmeister. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Anne Schienle, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
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