I’d really appreciate if anyone who bothers to read this or even glance it at reblogs it. You’d reblog facts about cancer or depression, why not this? So many people suffer in silence and feel alone because of this disorder. Let them know there is a name for what is happening and they aren’t the only ones.
What is it?
It is an impulse control disorder that causes a person to have the urge to pull out any type of their hair on their bodies. The most common spots being the scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows, and pubic hairs. This can be a conscious thing, and clearly ritualized. However, it is more common that pulling done is without a person being aware such as when they’re reading, at the computer, or watching tv. The impulse to pull can increase during times of stress, sadness, anxiety, or boredom.
Who gets it?
Anyone and everyone. It’s not the person’s fault. They can’t control it. WE WANT TO STOP, DON’T YOU THINK WE WOULD HAVE BY NOW IF WE COULD? It is more common in females than males (in terms of sex, not gender) and generally crops up after the onset of puberty. However, this is what is common and is not true for everyone. There are plenty of people who develop trich before or after puberty and plenty of males (again, in terms of sex not many studies have been done in gender) develop it as well.
What causes it?
Well that’s the question everyone wants to know. There is strong evidence that is genetic, and runs in families. Other related conditions are dermatillomania (skin picking) and nail biting, which also tend to run in families. Traumatic events may also cause the onset of trich.
How it common is it?
More common than you think. It is hard to get accurate stats because not many people want to come forward or are likely to get help because of the shame surrounding the disorder. To give you an idea 100% of all teachers will have a student with trich in their class at some point in their career. 2-4% of the US population has it, or 2 to ten million people (all stats from the TLC website).
What are some common methods of treatment and stopping?
- Creating barriers and self awareness
- Behavioural therapy such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- Anti-depressants or anxiety medications
- Counseling
- Supplements such as N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) or Insitol
- Talking to others
What are the effects?
- Shame
- Depression
- Embarrassment
- Social isolation
- Feeling as if you can’t participate in certain activities in your life because not having hair is too embarrassing (like swimming, or going out on a windy day and having your wig blow off or bald spots shown)
- Low self esteem
- Teasing,bullying, and being put down
- Bald spots
- The inability to grow hair in certain areas to to pulling
- Soreness and redness in pulling areas
- Jealousy
Things To Understand and Not To Say:
- If we could stop, we would have by now
- This is not a ploy for pity
- It does hurt, it does cause pain, it is a problem
- “Do you have cancer?”
- “What happened to your hair, eyelashes, eyebrows, etc?”
- “You’re just doing this to be spiteful”
Resources:
trich.org (Official Trichotillomania Learning Center site and resource)
trichworld.com (a social networking site for people with trich)
Beckie0 videos (this is truly amazing if you’re still confused or feel alone): Her story- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiBIXMBEqgE Hurtful responses- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6UROmu1ujA&feature=related
The Hair Pulling Problem by Fred Penzel
All information came from my head from researching this for the last few years. Some sites that I should problem credit are the TLC and beckie0.
