My father REFUSES to acknowledge his skin picking/possible dermatillomania
My dad has anxiety and recently diagnosed ADHD, which he is now medicated for. Over the last year or two, he has started skin picking to the point where he has scabs/open wounds all over his legs, arms, and the back of his head (he's bald). He often has trails of blood, both fresh and dried, running down his shins or forearms. Whenever we point it out to him, he denies it or dismisses it entirely.
We think it started from when he was working in the garage and would get little cuts and sores here and there, he'd then subconsciously start rubbing his arms/legs, feel the scabs and proceed to pick at them—never letting them heal. So eventually, the sores just kept popping up, and now he's covered with them.
So, out of obvious concern, my family and I have all asked where all these sores are coming from, to which he'd shrug and say he didn't know. We then very quickly realised it was because he was picking incessantly at his scabs, so we'd point it out, "Dad, you're picking", "You're making your arm bleed", etc, etc.
Sometimes, he'd just grumble like he was aware of it but didn't wanna address it, other times he himself would bring it up at say stuff all genuinely confused like, "I don't know where all these sores keep coming from", "I swear something must be biting me", to which I can't help but look at my mom and sister in shared disbelief. We literally point it out to him WHILE HE'S ACTIVELY DOING IT, and he'll STILL get defensive and double down in denial.
I'm not sure why he feels so called out or feels like we are chastising him when really we're just concerned for his health. He's pretty sensitive to feedback/criticism in general, shutting down whenever he feels even slightly frustrated, but it's not like we are shaming him for it. We just want him to acknowledge he has a problem, to stop denying it so vehemently, and to get help.
I have no idea what his thought process is, like three people in his immediate family have told him individually on multiple occasions that they have personally witnessed him pick at his skin and open these sores but he maintains this narrative that we're either liars or have absolutely no idea what we're talking about. I feel like part of him must know because I've spoken to him about getting a fidget ring to manage it, and he seemed pretty receptive to that, but a bigger part of him just wants to shut his eyes and block his ears to the problem.
Does anybody have any insights or advice?
I also apologise if any of this came off as ignorant or insensitive at all