Anyone else with Trichotillomania?

WantToBeSE

Hi.
I have had Trich since the birth of my 1st child, i am not sure why that started it off.

I am just wondering if anyone else has it, and if so, how they stop pulling their hair?

l0u1se

I had it in my early teens, have you ever had any other form of OCD? I used to do it sub consciously and to be honest the only reason I stopped was because my mum watched my like a hawk and gave me a good shouting at every time I did it. If it gets too bad you should see your doctor, they could recommend some sort of treatment like cognitive behavioural therapy which is like retraining your brain. Find something else to keep you occupied, do you do it when you are bored? Nervous? Stressed? If you can pinpoint what triggers it, it makes it much easier to stop best of luck x

WantToBeSE

Thanks for the reply l0u1se,
i dont have any other form of OCD, although i most definitely am more 'particular' about things than other people.
I only ever do it when i am sat down concentrating on something else, and only actually notice i have been doing it once i either have a pile of hair next to me, or when my head starts hurting from the pulling.

EllaRose

I don’t have trich but I do have Dermatillomania – the equivalent disorder of picking at your skin. I’ve pretty much destroyed the skin on one of my thumbs by continually scratching and picking for years. It was a habit I started as a child. I don't really know why, but I found it was something I did a lot when nervous/anxious. Only in the past few weeks have I made a conscious effort to stop. Although Trich is different I find the steps to take in order to overcome it quite similar.

The first thing I did was look into support forums online and learn as much about it as I could. I thought I was just a weirdo or a freak as I was actively harming myself. I felt severely ashamed and embarrassed of always having to hide my hands. Researching into it properly online made me realise it was a real disorder with lots of other sufferers, not just a “stupid” habit that is easy to break. So, I would recommend Googling trich to find a support thread – just reading others’ experiences makes you realise you’re not alone and that you can stop this.

Do you have any anxiety issues/extreme stress after having your baby? Maybe this could be contributing to the problem and tackling it could help.

Like louise said above, its so often a completely sub-conscious action – for me, I used to go into a sort of “trance” when I was picking my skin. I often wouldn’t even realise I was doing it until I drew blood, which was obviously so embarrassing and made me feel disgusted with myself. So, the next step I found was acknowledging every time I started picking. This would apply to you – you say you only notice you’re doing it when your head hurts or you find a pile of hair. I had to re-train my brain to realise and acknowledge every time I got the urge to pick – it sounds so easy but it takes a lot of self-discipline. So, whenever I notice I’m about to do it, I actively say “STOP” in my head, take a deep breath, and do another tension-relieving action (such as making a clenched fist) in order to overcome the urge. Perhaps there is an equivalent tension-relieving action you can take? Maybe getting a stress ball or something to “play” with, so your hands feel like they are still busy?

The other thing for me to help reduce the urge was to cover my thumb at all times with a plaster & constantly keep the area moist and clean. This helped with healing the scarred area and reduced the urge for me to create a new “wound”. Is there something equivalent you can do to stop the trich urge? Maybe tying your hair into a ponytail/having it up so you can’t pull at it?

Another stress relief is to care for the area you are “harming”. I found doing my nails properly regularly helped take my mind off things and I was less likely to want to pick as my hands looked so nice! Maybe a good equivalent is doing hair treatments/deep conditioner/deep scalp massage, etc. to help heal the damage?

So these are just a few steps I took to finally start to overcome my dermatillomania. It has now been 3 weeks and already the scarred area looks 50% better. I have also reduced my picking by about 70-80%. Obviously our disorders are different but I wanted to post my advice and let you know you can overcome it!:)