Trichotillomania (Self Induced Hair Thinning)
What is Trichotillomania
Trichotillomania is self-induced thinning hair. It is a disorder that causes sufferers to pull out the hair from their scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows, or other parts of the body. This results in noticeable bald patches. Hair pulling varies greatly in its severity and location on the body.
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It occurs most commonly among young children, adolescents and women and affects twice as many females as males.
For some people, at some times, trichotillomania is mild and can be controlled with extra awareness and concentration. For others, at times the urge may be so strong that it makes thinking of anything else nearly impossible. |
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What causes Trichotillomania
Trichotillomania is an impulse control disorder. It may seem to resemble a habit, an addiction, a tic disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is similar in nature to skin picking and nail biting. Trichotillomania is diagnosed in all age groups. It is more common during the first 20 years, with an average age of onset usually between 9 and 14 years of age. Among preschool children, the disease is distributed equally, however there appears to be a female predominance among preadolescents to young adults – between 70% and 90% of patients being female.
Help and information is available from the Trichotillomania Learning Center. It is prudent to also consult some popular literature on the subject, in order to get a better understanding of the condition. Some popular books available from Amazon.com are listed for your convenience:
What does Trichotillomania look like
Treatment for Trichotillomania
The treatment for Trichotillomania often involves counselling or psychiatric help, however in some cases an antidepressant may be prescribed such as clomipramine. This has been shown in a study to significantly improve symptoms.
Habit Reversal Training (HRT), has proved to be a successful addition to medication as a way to treat Trichotillomania. With Habit Reversal Training, doctors try to train the individual to learn to realize their urge to pull hair, and also teach them to redirect this urge. As a part of HRT, patients are told to keep a journal of their hair-pulling episodes that include a record of the date, time, location, and number of hairs pulled, as well as what they are thinking or feeling at the time. This can help the patient learn to identify situations where they tend to pull out their hair and develop techniques for avoiding these episodes.