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Trichotillomania (also known as hair-pulling disorder) is a part of a broader group of mental disorders that involves “Compulsive Skin Picking" (also known as dermatillomania) and "Chronic Nail Biting" (also known as onychophagia), these collections are known as BFRB (Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors) which belongs in the family of OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder).
Trichotillomania, also known as Trich, is a disorder in which patients compulsively pull out their hair from their body, especially from their scalp though eyelashes and eyebrows are pretty common places patients pull hairs from too, in response to either a habitual need to pull, a compulsive feeling, anxiety, or just out of boredom. Some pull their hair for the intense feeling after doing so, some likes to see their hair, and some pull to get that feeling of stress off of their hands or other body parts they are feeling that in.
What are the impacts of this disorder?
I am pretty sure most of us are well aware of today’s cruel beauty standards and are affected by them. And as we know today even if you are 1 or 2 kilograms above or below the normal mass you should be, you get criticized by other people; or have more acne than normal, etc. Now think that you have a sparse area on your scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes, etc. And think about the criticism you may get from other people. Because of this most patients who have this disorder go secretive about it, which may let other patients think they are the only 'weirdo' who do that, and they will try to live with it just by themselves, with no try to get help because they fear others will see them as a bunch of ‘weirdos’ who just pull out their hair intentionally because they are out of their minds when they do it compulsively. In this way, patients may have other disorders, like anxiety, when they try to overcome this by themselves.
How can we understand if we have Trich?
"Maybe they are just losing their hair because of other reasons, how can we understand that it is Trich?" you may say. Well, if you have a chance to examine people with Trich, you will see there will be a pattern going on. Because they are pulling their hair out from the same area, and there isn't any chemical reason for hairs to stop growing so they are going to grow, and patients will pull them out again. So if you see someone with Trich and a sparse area on their body, you are likely to see that sparse area even after a year. However, Trich may not be the only cause for that pattern, there may be other things to cause that, like a skin infection.
So what should patients do to overcome that?
If you think you have Trich (mind that, in Trich people pull out their hair because they can't resist the urge to pull out their hair, so if you pull out intentionally. you probably don't have it). First of all, you should tell people whom you trust about this, it may help you to ease your stress. Secondly, you should tell your GP about this so they will check that there is nothing else that causes the baldish area on your body, such as a skin infection. If your GP thinks you do have Trich then you may get some treatments to get over it. And because it is often associated with other mental disorders you may go to a psychologist or psychiatrist for evaluation or treatment is considered best.
Treatments you may get for Trich are:
Habit Reversal Training (HRT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Let's see what it is like from the patients' perspective
Rebecca is a patient who pulls hair from her head and bravely shared it on social media.
Pulling makes me feel better but then when you see the damage afterwards then you think no, that's actually making me feel worse. I remember when I was with a counselor and she said to me when you're stressed where do you feel it in your body and remember holding my hands up and going in my fingers it’s here. I want to do things with my hands the weirdest thing about pulling it, it feels like my fingers are magnets and they're attracted to certain parts of my head. I found just tying my hands to tables or chairs or to my tummy when I was at school it stopped me getting to the hair.
Trichsters receive severe backlash and i think it is because people don't appreciate that you literally cannot stop. It’s not even a choice I can't leave it alone.
If you think you have this disorder then please see your GP, and if necessary a psychologist.
If you think a person you know has this disorder please keep in mind that they are not doing that intentionally and try to ease them.
References
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