Trichotillomania is an impulse control or brain disease similar to OCD or addiction where the person pulls out their own hair. The hair can be located anywhere. Trichotillamania may be caused by trauma, rape, physical violence, torture, child abuse, and very severe emotional abuse. It may be minor and easily managed or severe. This disease can overwhelm the person. It is very important for the person with this disease to eliminate or minimize exposure to any severely negative people in their life that are abusive or exploitative. It is an emotional disorder that usually needs several therapies in order to be managed successfully. There are many alternative therapies which are untried for this illness, but these may successful due to the large emotional component of the illness. Trichotillomania seems similar to addiction, OCD, and a bad habit. Quieting the mind should be one of the goals of any therapy. Alternative therapies that quiet the mind include Yoga, scalp acupuncture, auricular acupuncture, Emotional Freedom Technique(EFT), botanical extracts, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS),and orthomolecular medicine.[]
Mixed results have been reported with the use of SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors). In conjunction with the use of SSRIs, some researchers have recommended the use of neuroleptic drugs (antipsychotics) in low doses. Treating trichotillomania with medication is usually combined with behavioral training therapy.Using behavioral training therapy in treating trichotillomania has reported results of a 90% and higher success rate, even as a stand alone treatment. As the hair pulling behavior that sufferers exhibit is a triggered response to negative emotional stimuli (such as stress, anger, anxiety, etc.), psychoanalysis can be an aid to gaining a better understanding of just which stimuli can trigger each individual's behavior.
Today, more behaviorally based therapies are in use, and with insurmountably high success rates. Especially successful are of the type known as "behavioral substitution", or "behavioral replacement" therapies. These actually provide a means for patients to educate themselves further on their conditions while they benefit from them. Many have changed from drug therapies over to the more behaviorally base therapies as a result of the successes that are had by thousands of sufferers, even with cases of trichotillomania in adults.
For a trichotillomania treatment to be effective there is a need for perseverance. There is no magic pill to take care of this problem as a cure, as the condition doesn't stem from a biochemical cause. There are medications that are geared to alter behavioral patterns, but this only creates a temporary fix (if even a working one at all) for the situation, only creating an effect while you continue to take them. This only seems to post pone the situation, not improve it. Needless to say, this isn't the most desirable course of trichotillomania treatment.Other means of trichotillomania treatment involve different types of psychological methods, which for the most part, actually work quite well... though according to each of these specific methods, they tend to work better for some than others. Still, since this condition has its roots not in biochemistry, but psychologically, manifesting as emotionally triggered behavioral responses, it is with the use of psychological methods of trichotillomania treatment that we can properly attack this problem at its source.
The foremost danger for these patients is the addiction of pulling own hair in such an extent that it becomes chronic leading to bald spots. Scientists claim that in almost 10% cases, the patients indulge in pulling own hair and eating it. This pathological disorder is called Trichophagia and it eventually causes bezoar or hairball after the ingestion. Individuals suffering from it make use of several pullers like their own fingers, pins, tweezers and much more for pulling own hair. Hence, to cure hair pulling disorder, heavy medical intervention is necessary to avoid several appalling consequences. Several people believe that pulling own hair is done consciously by the patients. However, doctors believe that most of these urges are fulfilled unconsciously.
Only some methods work effectively to stop pulling out eyelashes. The key to Trichotillomania treatment is about accepting and understanding the disorder. By learning to relax and keep occupied with other activities, the faster you will be able to stop pulling eyelashes.Trichotillomania therapy is mainly grouped into two types; medical, and behavioral. Studies show very low success rates with medication and traditional psychoanalysis. Among the medications that are typically used are antidepressants with serotonergic properties (which are also used by patients with obsessive compulsive disorders), Clomipramine (also known as Anafranil) being the most effective in these cases.
While SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) provide generally mixed results on their own, researchers usually recommend using these in conjunction with neuroleptic drugs (antipsychotics) in very low doses as a medical means of trichotillomania therapy. Due to the low success rates of medications as a stand alone form of therapy, these are usually combined with behavioral therapy. Psychoanalysis tends to focus on childhood experiences and unresolved conflicts or issues during early developmental stages of the person's life.
This is one of the first methods of trichotillomania treatment: to discover the triggers for your hair pulling. For many this could be stress, and for others it might simply be boredom. There is also evidence that diet may have an effect. Keep a journal and write down what you were doing, thinking or feeling before you started to pull. While this is related to knowing your triggers, this also means learning how to deal with them. Relaxation is a great way to take your mind of pulling and to learn to accept yourself how you are. This could be done through hypnosis, meditation, soothing music - try as many ways as possible to find out what works for you.You might think that this doesn't count as a cure, but the truth is there is no miracle trichotillomania treatment or cure. No matter what you read, the best thing you can do for yourself is to stop looking for a miracle cure and to spend time working on yourself instead. It takes time, but through talking to others online and in real life, you will realise that trich doesn't make you strange - it is just a part of you that doesn't have to define you.There is no cure for trich, and the best trichotillomania treatment means learning what works best for you and accepting it. This doesn't mean giving in, but it means getting the support you need to live your life however you want to live it.
Mixed results have been reported with the use of SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors). In conjunction with the use of SSRIs, some researchers have recommended the use of neuroleptic drugs (antipsychotics) in low doses. Treating trichotillomania with medication is usually combined with behavioral training therapy.Using behavioral training therapy in treating trichotillomania has reported results of a 90% and higher success rate, even as a stand alone treatment. As the hair pulling behavior that sufferers exhibit is a triggered response to negative emotional stimuli (such as stress, anger, anxiety, etc.), psychoanalysis can be an aid to gaining a better understanding of just which stimuli can trigger each individual's behavior.
Today, more behaviorally based therapies are in use, and with insurmountably high success rates. Especially successful are of the type known as "behavioral substitution", or "behavioral replacement" therapies. These actually provide a means for patients to educate themselves further on their conditions while they benefit from them. Many have changed from drug therapies over to the more behaviorally base therapies as a result of the successes that are had by thousands of sufferers, even with cases of trichotillomania in adults.
For a trichotillomania treatment to be effective there is a need for perseverance. There is no magic pill to take care of this problem as a cure, as the condition doesn't stem from a biochemical cause. There are medications that are geared to alter behavioral patterns, but this only creates a temporary fix (if even a working one at all) for the situation, only creating an effect while you continue to take them. This only seems to post pone the situation, not improve it. Needless to say, this isn't the most desirable course of trichotillomania treatment.Other means of trichotillomania treatment involve different types of psychological methods, which for the most part, actually work quite well... though according to each of these specific methods, they tend to work better for some than others. Still, since this condition has its roots not in biochemistry, but psychologically, manifesting as emotionally triggered behavioral responses, it is with the use of psychological methods of trichotillomania treatment that we can properly attack this problem at its source.
The foremost danger for these patients is the addiction of pulling own hair in such an extent that it becomes chronic leading to bald spots. Scientists claim that in almost 10% cases, the patients indulge in pulling own hair and eating it. This pathological disorder is called Trichophagia and it eventually causes bezoar or hairball after the ingestion. Individuals suffering from it make use of several pullers like their own fingers, pins, tweezers and much more for pulling own hair. Hence, to cure hair pulling disorder, heavy medical intervention is necessary to avoid several appalling consequences. Several people believe that pulling own hair is done consciously by the patients. However, doctors believe that most of these urges are fulfilled unconsciously.
Only some methods work effectively to stop pulling out eyelashes. The key to Trichotillomania treatment is about accepting and understanding the disorder. By learning to relax and keep occupied with other activities, the faster you will be able to stop pulling eyelashes.Trichotillomania therapy is mainly grouped into two types; medical, and behavioral. Studies show very low success rates with medication and traditional psychoanalysis. Among the medications that are typically used are antidepressants with serotonergic properties (which are also used by patients with obsessive compulsive disorders), Clomipramine (also known as Anafranil) being the most effective in these cases.
While SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) provide generally mixed results on their own, researchers usually recommend using these in conjunction with neuroleptic drugs (antipsychotics) in very low doses as a medical means of trichotillomania therapy. Due to the low success rates of medications as a stand alone form of therapy, these are usually combined with behavioral therapy. Psychoanalysis tends to focus on childhood experiences and unresolved conflicts or issues during early developmental stages of the person's life.
This is one of the first methods of trichotillomania treatment: to discover the triggers for your hair pulling. For many this could be stress, and for others it might simply be boredom. There is also evidence that diet may have an effect. Keep a journal and write down what you were doing, thinking or feeling before you started to pull. While this is related to knowing your triggers, this also means learning how to deal with them. Relaxation is a great way to take your mind of pulling and to learn to accept yourself how you are. This could be done through hypnosis, meditation, soothing music - try as many ways as possible to find out what works for you.You might think that this doesn't count as a cure, but the truth is there is no miracle trichotillomania treatment or cure. No matter what you read, the best thing you can do for yourself is to stop looking for a miracle cure and to spend time working on yourself instead. It takes time, but through talking to others online and in real life, you will realise that trich doesn't make you strange - it is just a part of you that doesn't have to define you.There is no cure for trich, and the best trichotillomania treatment means learning what works best for you and accepting it. This doesn't mean giving in, but it means getting the support you need to live your life however you want to live it.