New to this sub/confessions

hi all! i'm so glad i found this sub! my picking has been worse than it's ever been lately and i need to get a few things off my chest.

i'm 22/f and have been picking since i was about 12. i remember when i was younger my mom told me to stop picking and i said "If I could, I would." that's when she knew this was more than just a bad habit.

From what I can remember, (when I was younger) I went to a few therapy sessions and met with a psychiatrist but nothing was done about my picking. They just said I should get Proactiv .. lol.

Well here are two incidents that make me kind of freaked out about this whole issue..

• I let picking cause me to rear end someone while in stop-and-go traffic. I was picking at a scab on my face and had my visor down to see myself in the mirror and pick. I was going back and forth looking at myself, looking at the road, moving forward... then bam. Luckily i barely tapped the back of this old van but we still pulled over. Neither car was damaged in any way so we just got back in our cars and kept going but still.. like that's not okay.

Literally just last night was a really bad night for me. Idk why I was going crazy on my face/neck. (i still am today and as I type..)

• Today I woke up with a bruise and swelling around this bump I couldn't stop picking at last night on my face (upper cheek). Even today a coworker was asking about it.. Ugh I can't believe I was picking so hard and for so long that it bruised and is swollen..

I was told that it's caused by stress (not sure where i heard that from) but that doesn't make sense for me... this being my worst picking time, but I'm also really happy. Genuinely happy.

I don't know if there's a correlation or not but i'm hoping this "bad" phase passes real soon.

Thank you for reading!! Any advice/support would be amazing.