Introduction
Trichotillomania or hair-pulling disorder. It is a mental disorder that involves the urge to pull hair from the:
- Scalp
- Eyebrows
- Hands
- And other parts of the body
This leaves bald patches on the respective areas.
It is a chronic disorder that can hamper social and work functioning. Some people wear a wig to fulfill their urge to pull hair. This is a serious issue in the world. Here are a few:
Symptoms Of Trichotillomania
Here are a few symptoms of Trichotillomania:
- Repeatedly pulling your hair out, especially from the scalp, eyelashes, and other parts of the body.
- There is a sense of increasing tension when you resist pulling the hair.
- A sense of pleasure or relief after the hair is pulled
- Biting and chewing pulled hair
- Playing with pulled-out hair or rubbing it on your face and lips
- Distress at work, school, and in social interactions related to pulling out hair
- Repeatedly willing to pull your hair to get the ultimate success
- Hair loss, bald patches, and thin hairlines are some symptoms. Furthermore, there are missing eyebrows and eyelashes, following bald patches in other parts of the body.
Besides, the disorder also makes people pick their skin, nail-biting, and lip-chewing. Even some people pull hair from their pets and dolls to fulfill their pleasure. That is why experts have classified the symptoms into different parts:
- Focused: Some people pull their hair intentionally. They are very much focused on pulling the hair from the scalp and other parts of the body. They even engage in biting their nails and chewing their hair.
- Automatic: For some people, it is automatic. They pull their hair, even without realizing they are pulling their hair. This is totally unintentional.
- Negative Feelings: For most people, Trichotillomania is the product of negative emotions. It helps them to deal with tension, stress, anxiety, and hypertension. Even feelings like boredom, loneliness, fatigue, and frustration also lead to pulling the hair from different body parts.
- Positive feelings: For others, Trichotillomania is the product of pleasure and satisfaction. People get the ultimate satisfaction when they pull their hair from different parts of the body.
Causes Of Trichotillomania
After conducting several studies, medical experts are unsure why Trichotillomania happens or occurs in people. However, they have listed some of the causes of Trichotillomania.
Here are a few of them:
Risk Factors
Some experts have expressed that people acquire Trichotillomania due to their genetics. This is because mental disorders are passed down through genes. Furthermore, it is also observed that it occurs in infants and mostly in between 10 and 13-year-old children.
Moreover, there are issues like stress and other disorders that can play a role in acquiring the mental disorder.
Complications
Every human goes through negative emotions in their life. Therefore, emotional distress, which is mostly negative, affects human interaction with themselves. This leads to hall-pulling disorders. People who suffer from Trichotillomania wear wigs in public to protect themselves from shame in the workplace and social activities. Furthermore, it depletes skin and hair and damages the rest of their lives.
Lastly, eating your hair can lock your intestines, which stops the passage of roughage – thus leading to sudden death. Therefore, you must follow the person who has acquired Trichotillomania properly. Furthermore, you should consult a dermatologist, who will help you understand the mental disorder. This will lead to consulting a psychologist who can offer better treatment for your mental issue.
Diagnosis of Trichotillomania
Before you visit the psychiatrist, there are things you need to evaluate. If you can’t, the psychiatrist will assess you:
- How much hair loss do you have?
- Discussing the condition of hair with you
- Conducting the hair test to create the treatment plan
- Identifying physical and mental disorders, which are associated with pulling disorder
After doing a thorough inspection, the doctors decide on the treatment plan to put your hair back on track.
Treatment Plan
One of the best treatments for Trichotillomania is seeing a psychologist. They can give a better treatment plan to stop the disorder and allow people to lead a healthy life. The treatment plan will include:
Therapy
One of the most effective ways of treating Trichotillomania is with therapy. It includes –
- Habit reversal therapy is a treatment where your habits will be identified so you won’t touch your hair. Even if you are getting the urge to pull your hair, just put it in a different location to kill the urge.
- Cognitive therapy: This will help you to identify and rectify your beliefs and actions related to the hair-pulling
- Acceptance and commitment therapy: This is the therapy where you accept your urges of pulling hair and not acting on it.
Lastly, There Is No Approved Medication
In the end, we can conclude by saying that there is no proper medication for Trichotillomania. The Food and Drug Association approves no drug. Therefore, therapists take the help of antidepressants to help people to fight the disorder.
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