What is the definition for trichotillomania?

Trichotillomania, also known as trich, is when someone cannot resist the urge to pull out their hair. They may pull out the hair on their head or in other places, such as their eyebrows or eyelashes.

What are 3 symptoms of trichotillomania?

Noticeable hair loss, such as shortened hair or thinned or bald areas on the scalp or other areas of your body, including sparse or missing eyelashes or eyebrows. Preference for specific types of hair, rituals that accompany hair pulling or patterns of hair pulling. Biting, chewing or eating pulled-out hair.

What does trichotillomania look like?

People with trichotillomania pull hair out at the root from places like the scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes, or pubic area. Some people with the condition pull large handfuls of hair, which can leave bald patches on the scalp or eyebrows. Other people pull out their hair one strand at a time.

How do you explain trichotillomania?

People who have trichotillomania have an irresistible urge to pull out their hair, usually from their scalp, eyelashes, and eyebrows. They know they can do damage but often can't control the impulse. They may pull out their hair when they're stressed as a way to try to soothe themselves.

Is trichotillomania a form of OCD?

Trichotillomania is on the obsessive-compulsive spectrum, which means that it shares many symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), such as compulsive counting, checking, or washing.

What Is The Definition Of Trichotillomania



What triggers trichotillomania?

Causes of trichotillomania

your way of dealing with stress or anxiety. a chemical imbalance in the brain, similar to obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) changes in hormone levels during puberty.

Who is most affected by trichotillomania?

People typically develop "trich" around age 12, and 75 percent of those who have it are female, according to research findings. Their compulsive hair pulling often results in a "thin" appearance on the scalp, says Mouton-Odum. Some people also pluck other hairy areas, such as their eyebrows, eyelashes or body hair.

Is trichotillomania an OCD or anxiety?

What is trichotillomania? Trichotillomania (often abbreviated as TTM) is a mental health disorder where a person compulsively pulls out or breaks their own hair. This condition falls under the classification of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Is trichotillomania a form of anxiety?

Trichotillomania, also known as hair-pulling, is an impulse control disorder. It could be caused by anxiety and stress. It can coexist with an anxiety disorder. However, psychiatrists consider it as a separate illness and not an anxiety disorder.

Can trichotillomania be cured?

There is no one way to cure or prevent trichotillomania. However, treating the underlying negative emotions may help prevent the urge to pull your hair from coming back. Reducing or relieving stress and finding outlets for it may help reduce the urge to pull your hair. You may also want to consider therapy for stress.

Is trichotillomania an addiction?

Trichotillomania is not an addiction.

People with Trichotillomania do not compulsively pull their hair out in order to reach an altered state of consciousness, they do it because they have an uncontrollable urge to do so.

What is the best medication for trichotillomania?

SSRIs and clomipramine are considered first-line in TTM. In addition, family members of TTM patients are often affected by obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders. Other drugs used in the treatment of TTM are lamotrigine, olanzapine, N-Acetylcysteine, inositol, and naltrexone.

What is the most effective treatment for trichotillomania?

Habit reversal training.

This behavior therapy is the primary treatment for trichotillomania. You learn how to recognize situations where you're likely to pull your hair and how to substitute other behaviors instead.

Is trichotillomania caused by trauma?

We can conclude that trauma may play a role in development of both trichotillomania and skin picking. Increased duration of trichotillomania or skin picking was correlated with decreased presence of post-traumatic stress symptoms.

Is trichotillomania a genetic disorder?

Scientists at Duke University Medical Center have found evidence that trichotillomania, a psychiatric disorder that causes people to compulsively pull their hair, has a basis in genetics. Trichotillomania is an impulse control disorder that affects 3 to 5 percent of the population.

What part of the brain does trichotillomania affect?

The results of the analysis, published in Brain Imaging and Behaviour in June, show that patients with trichotillomania have increased thickness in regions of the frontal cortex involved in suppression of motor responses: the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) and other nearby brain regions.

What happens if trichotillomania is left untreated?

Trichotillomania is considered an impulse control disorder.

If untreated, it is a chronic, though often intermittent condition. Pulling hair can result in visible bald patches, which can lead to significant distress and feelings of shame about the inability to stop this behavior.

Does hair grow back after trichotillomania?

If Trichotillomania has been going on for years, it's possible that permanent baldness can occur, or dam-age to the hair follicle can lead to stunted hair growth. If a follicle has been damaged by hair pulling but not destroyed, it can take between 2-4 years to regrow a hair.

What is Rapunzel's syndrome?

Rapunzel syndrome is an extremely rare condition seen in adolescents or young females with psychiatric disorders consisting of a gastric trichobezoar with an extension within the small bowel. The delays in diagnosis are common since in its early stages, it is usually asymptomatic.

Is trichotillomania a form of Stimming?

Hair pulling is one of the many self-stimulating or self-soothing activities used by individuals affected by SPD and autism to self-regulate. In seeking sensory stimulation or sensory soothing, there is a tendency to target sites where there are many nerve endings such as the hands, feet, mouth and scalp.

Are there different levels of trichotillomania?

There are two types of trichotillomania. One is called automatic pulling and the other is called focused pulling. Kids with automatic hair-pulling often don't even realize they're doing it.

Are people born with trichotillomania?

Most people aren't born with trichotillomania. It's something that can develop in childhood and adolescence, and it's usually in response to some sort of trigger of anxiety or stress.

What percent of the world has trichotillomania?

Per their research, an estimated 1 to 2 percent of the population has trichotillomania and about 1.4 percent has skin picking disorder.

What is on the end of a plucked hair?

When you pull out your hair "by the root," you may observe a transparent swelling called the "bulb." The area above the bulb usually seen on a plucked hair is the root sheath, the growing area of a hair. The size of the hair bulb on a plucked hair varies with the phase of growth the hair was in.

Does trichotillomania cause permanent hair loss?

In severe cases, trichotillomania can result in permanent hair loss or skin damage. The repeated pulling out of hair has been shown to damage the hair follicles. Because trichotillomania is an obsessive repetitive disorder, this means that those with it often experience damaged hair follicles.