Hair-pulling or Trichotillomania: Uncontrollable urges
Christina Pearson’s hand unconsciously kept searching through the hair on her head to find the “right” hair that “needed” to be pulled as she lay on her couch immersed in a book. By the time she finished the novel, an entire pile of blond hair lay at her side.
She was thirteen years old at the time and couldn’t believe or understand why she had compulsively pulled out so much of her own hair; neither could the doctor who examined her.
Through out her twenties, she remained captive to the inner compulsion to pull out her hair or pick at her skin terrified that she would be found out by others and fearful that she would never be in control of her own life again. It wasn’t until she was in her thirties that she learned there was a name for her condition.
Today, Christina runs a successful business, is on medication and uses various therapies to control her illness called trichotillomania, an impulse control disorder that causes people to pull out hair from their scalp, eyelashes, pubic hair and other parts of their body.
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Michele
Thank you for this information. I went to school with someone that in retrospect, probably had this problem. She was very introverted and pulled out her hair constantly and had bald patches - and another thing is that she sucked on the hair she pulled out - or at least ran each strand through her mouth. I haven't thought about her in years but reading about this reminded me. None of us knew what to make of her and I wish I had known more about it as perhaps we could have helped her. For some reason, I suspect all was not well with her homelife but we were all just kids and didn't know any better. We wouldn't even have known of this condition back then - this is twenty years ago. I hope she found help for it. And I hope that anyone with this condition reads your information and also seeks help.
I just did a search for this school friend and it appears she is dead as of last year. I'm very sad to find this out, she was only 38. No details to be found.
Sorry about your school friend, it was nice of you to make the attempt to reach out to her. I too hope that this article helps someone, especially someone in their teens where it is already difficult enough to wrestle with your sense of self. Having an obsessive/compulsive disorder makes the struggle so much harder. The woman, Christina, who started the Trichotillomania Learning Center is incredibly brave to put herself out there to help others.
Hi Im a 36 year old male , and I just found out that what thouht it was a bad habbitt it is in fact a mentan condition , I tend to eat the hair from my chest, bear, arms etc , and lately I have been suffering of extreme fatige , anxiety etc , im wondering if this is caused by the hair I have been eating .please advice
Hi, Glad you found our site and I hope the article was helpful. It isn't clear to me whether you were diagnosed with this disorder by a doctor or you just have come to realize this by searching the web. I would suggest you approach treating your situation by 1. Making sure there isn't something else medical at play causing your nausea and fatigue. 2. Seeking the help of an experienced practitioner who can diagnosis and treat your mental/emotional health.
In order to rule out any medical causes you need to see an internal medical doctor. He may decide to send you to a Gastoenterologist who can evaluate whether there is anything in your stomach/colon causing the nausea. Depending on your insurance, you may need to stay within your plan. Otherwise call your local hospital and see if they have physician referral service to help you find doctors to go to or get a recommendation from others you trust.
The website at the end of my article has a Provider link where you can search by state to find a Psych type doctor experienced in Trichotillomania at http://www.trich.org/treatment/treatment-provider.html
You want to only see someone who has experience with Trichotillomania so they understand how best to treat you. Good luck, let us know how it goes.