Trichotillomania is a mental disorder also known as hair pulling disorder, it involves the urge to pull out hair. This could be hair from your scalp, eyebrows or other parts of your body as a result it can leave you with bald patches. Some people only have a mild case of trichotillomania where it can be manageable, but for others it may be worse where they constantly have the irresistible urge to pull at their hair. It is usually only kept to pull out from 1 or 2 areas commonly being the scalp but it has been known for people to pull from more uncommon areas. These being pubic area, armpits, chest and beard.
Symptoms
- Urge to repeatedly pull your hair out, usually from your scalp, eyelashes or eyebrows. Although some people pull hairs from other parts of their body too.
- Feeling pleasure or sense of relief from pulling the hair out.
- Patchy and bold areas on your scalp or other areas of your body like eyebrows. Also having uneven hair length.
- Chewing or eating the hair after it has been pulled out.
- Pulling hairs out individually and doing it for hours at a time.
- Can cause low-self-esteem and stress.
Causes and risk factors
There are a few different causes and risk factors that can lead to trichotillomania, everyone is different and may have different triggers. Trichotillomania can be common in those who suffer with mental health problems like anxiety, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Hair pulling can be referred to as addictive as before pulling the hair you may feel tension, whereas after you pull the hair people feel relief and gain pleasure from the feeling.
Some risk factors include,
- Age- hair pulling disorder normally develops during early teens most commonly between the ages of 10-13 years old. It can affect infants although it is usually mild and often goes away on its own.
- Stress- Stressful situations or social stress may be a trigger for some and cause trichotillomania.
- Family history- Those who have family members with Trichotillomania are also at risk of developing it too. This may be down to genetics or just picking it up by being around them.
- Other disorders- as mentioned above people who suffer from other disorders such as anxiety may be at risk of developing it.
Effects of Trichotillomania
Trichotillomania can have a major negative effect on the lives of people who suffer from it. It can cause emotional stress as symptoms like bald patches can leave them with confidence issues and self-esteem problems. Although other disorders can be a cause, trichotillomania can also be a cause for people developing disorders like anxiety and depression.
It is common for people suffering from hair pulling to have feelings of embarrassment as a result of hair loss. This may lead to problems functioning at work or socially, it may make you avoid social activities and events. It can have an effect on your work life and affect your job opportunities. This is because the embarrassment and fear of people seeing your hair and bald patches may make it too overwhelming.
Hair pulling can affect your skin as well as your hair, it can scar and cause damage including infections to the skin where you’re pulling hair from. It can also permanently damage future hair growth making it grow differently or even not grow back at all. Some people who suffer from trichotillomania eat the hair that they pull out and this can be very bad for them. Eating the hair can cause large hairballs in your digestive tract, over time this would cause weight loss, sickness and intestinal obstruction. In some cases, eating hair can be as serious as causing death.
Treatment
If you think you have trichotillomania or you think your child has it then you should contact your GP. Your GP will look at the areas with missing hair and check it over to make sure that it isn’t something else causing the hair to fall out. If the GP thinks you have hair pulling disorder, then they will usually refer you for cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). CBT treats trichotillomania using a type of therapy called habit reversal training.
Treatment usually involves things like keeping a diary so you can keep track of when and why you are triggered to pull out hair. This will allow you to focus on what triggers it and how you can work to avoid triggers. They may suggest finding ways to replace hair pulling with another action, for example a stress ball.
They don’t usually prescribe medication such as antidepressants for trichotillomania. Although if you are suffering from depression or anxiety in addition to trichotillomania then they may suggest antidepressants.
Things to try yourself
There are a few things you could try to help yourself from pulling your hair these include,
- Finding something to occupy your hands when you feel the need to pull your hair like a stress ball or fidget toy.
- Allow loved ones to provide emotional support, speak to them about your disorder and help them understand so they can help you.
- If it is from your scalp, you are pulling hair from you could try wearing something on your head like a hat or a bandana.
- Practice techniques like breathing to calm yourself until the urge goes away.
- Put your mind and energy into something else, for example a hobby.
- You could try joining a support group for trichotillomania, this will allow you to talk to others who suffer.
- Wet your hair when you feel the urge, this makes the hair slippery and hard to pull.
- Find other ways to get satisfaction like brushing your hair or massaging your scalp. You can even get little brushes for your eyelashes and brows if that’s the area you tend to pull from.
- People most commonly pull hair at night so avoid drinking caffeine before bed and this will keep you awake and heightens anxiety.
- Take a bath to ease the anxiety.
- Try wearing a wig.
- Spread awareness about trichotillomania will help others which may help you.