Compulsive hair pulling disorder (also known as trichotillomania) is an impulse control disorder. In which a person suffers from the irresistible impulse or temptation to pull out his or her own hair. It’s a disorder that stems from anxious symptoms and obsessive-compulsive tendencies. For people with this disorder, the pain felt while pulling is done as a means to ease anxiety and stress. They will typically pick their hair out of either the scalp, face, eyebrows, or eyelashes. Leaving bald patches, sores, and thinning in the affected places.
What Are The Causes?
The central cause of compulsive hair pulling disorder is unknown. However, experts believe that the compulsive act has to do with a connection between anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Typically, a person who is suffering from this will also be suffering from an anxiety disorder. Which is a set of mental health disorders that stem from a severe reaction to be able to cope with stress.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a disorder in which a person will have obsessive and distressing thoughts. A person with obsessive-compulsive disorder will ease the stress reaction of those obsessive thoughts with compulsions, or rituals that are repetitive and mentally, physically or emotionally damaging. In the case of compulsive hair pulling disorder, a person will do this to relieve the feelings and symptoms of stress, anxiety, and emotional upset.
A person who has compulsive hair pulling disorder will suffer from a poor ability to regulate impulse control. This means that he or she will have a hard time with resisting the urge to pull out his or her hair, especially in times of great distress or emotional upset. People with compulsive hair pulling disorder will even engage in hair pulling behavior unconsciously, meaning they do not even realize they are pulling out their own hair until they begin to notice bald spots or patches of hair in their hands.
What Are The Risk Factors?
While the causes of compulsive hair pulling disorder are unknown, research has found patterns in cases of compulsive hair pulling disorder that determine a set of risk factors for developing this impulse control disorder. The risk factors are based on lifestyle, life stressors, stress management skills and self-esteem.
Such Risk Factors Include
- Suffering from an anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, or impulse-control disorder
- Having a family history of compulsive hair pulling disorder or any of the above disorders
- A high stress lifestyle, career or personal life
- Having poor stress management skills
- Difficulty with self-control and impulse control
- Being exposed to a chaotic environment for prolonged periods of time
- Prevalence of abuse or neglect during childhood
- Having low self-esteem, a poor self-image and low confidence
- Failure to learn emotional intelligence or a healthy way to express one’s own feelings
- What Are The Symptoms Of Compulsive Hair Pulling Disorder?
Symptoms of Compulsive hair pulling disorder can begin to show at any time in a person’s life, but on average, people will tend to begin to show hair-pulling behaviour between the ages of 9 and 11. While compulsive hair pulling disorder cannot be cured, it is manageable if caught and treated early. Considering this, it is important to know what symptoms to look out for when dealing with compulsive hair pulling disorder.
Signs & Symptoms A Person Is Suffering From A Compulsive Hair Pulling Disorder
- Physical Signs
- Bald patches or spots on a person’s head, face or eyebrows
- Missing patches of eyelashes or loss and absence of eyelashes
- Excessive and rapid hair loss
- Patches of hair being found in the living space of the affected person
- Sores, skin irritation, or patches of raw skin on the scalp and/or around the eyes
Mental and Emotional Signs
- Signs of extreme, constant or excessive worrying
- Mood swings
- Crying spells
- Occurrence of recurring and/or upsetting life stressors
- Difficulty coping with stress
- Panic attacks
- Distress when feeling stressed or overwhelmed
- Pulling out hair to seek relief from distressing feelings of anxiety or stress
- Seeking the sensation of relief from pulling out hair
Behavioural and Social Signs
- Withdrawal from friends and family
- Attempts to hide or conceal bald spots with hats or hair treatments
- Constant and/or unconscious touching, twirling, stroking or playing with hair
- Unconscious pulling when in social situations
- Trouble managing confrontation
- Compulsively chewing, eating, or inspecting hair
- Denial and shame about the behaviour
Is There A Cure?
Compulsive hair pulling disorder is a mental health disorder that stems from a poor ability to control impulses. Considering it is a mental health disorder and not a medical disease, there is no cure for this. However, there are treatment options available to those who are suffering from the disorder’s effects. Treatment and intervention methods will include different kinds of therapeutic approaches that have been effective in treating this disorder. Such therapeutic approaches include:
Habit Reversal Training
The goal of habit reversal training is to switch out the harmful hair pulling behaviour with a habit that is less harmful to the body but also relieves stress
Cognitive Therapy
Cognitive therapy identifies and reconstructs thought processes and belief systems that increase the prevalence of stress and make it difficult for the affected person to cope with stress.
CBT
This is a form of therapy that identifies how your thoughts and beliefs about yourself and the world trigger your poor behaviours, and how to use both cognition and behaviours to reduce this behaviour.
For more info about trichotillomania, visit trichstop.com To check for symptoms, you can use this free online test.
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