79% of those who had trichotillomania also had one or more mental health comorbidities, with anxiety/depressive disorders, OCD, PTSD, and ADHD being the most prevalent. ADHD in general is one of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental diseases in children.
While ADHD is not an impulse control disorder like trichotillomania, it can cause problems with impulse control. For this reason, scientists think ADHD and trichotillomania might have some connection with each other, but scientists are still learning about these links.
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).
Individuals may be misdiagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), an anxiety disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, or even drug addiction.
Causes of trichotillomania
your way of dealing with stress or anxiety. a chemical imbalance in the brain. changes in hormone levels during puberty. genetic - more than one person in a family may have the condition.
Recently, a strong relationship of family chaos during childhood and trichotillomania has also been reported, in which 86% of women with trichotillomania reported a history of violence—for example, sexual assault or rape—concurrent with the onset of trichotillomania.
Habit reversal training.
This behavior therapy is the main treatment for trichotillomania. You learn how to recognize situations where you're likely to pull out your hair and how to substitute other behaviors instead. For example, you might clench your fists to help stop the urge.
Adults with trichotillomania frequently report that their pulling worsens during periods of heightened anxiety [9]. Alternatively, hair pulling for many adults leads to avoidance of social activities and results in anxiety during intimate situations [6], [10], [11].
Trichotillomania (TTM), also known as hair-pulling disorder or compulsive hair pulling, is a mental disorder characterized by a long-term urge that results in the pulling out of one's own hair.
Skin picking disorder, or excoriation disorder, is a repetitive behavior characterized by compulsive picking, scratching, or pulling of the skin. People pick their skin for different reasons. For example, they may also have a mental health condition, such as OCD or ADHD.
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.
Don't say, “You need to learn to relax, and maybe the pulling will stop automatically.” Usually, this isn't true. My clients with trich have hairpulling on their mind constantly (which can be mentally exhausting) and have uncontrollable urges to pull.
Other imaging studies of trichotillomania reported reduced gray matter in the left inferior frontal gyrus23 and reduced cerebellar volumes. More recently, whole-brain analysis identified increased gray matter densities in the left caudate/putamen, bilateral cingulate, and right frontal cortices.
Q: Is hair-pulling in babies a symptom of autism? A: While hair-pulling is a behavior often exhibited by children on the spectrum, if your baby is pulling hair, it does not mean that your child has autism.
ADHD stimming is when a person with ADHD displays self-stimulatory behavior by repeating certain sounds and movements unconsciously. There are many different examples, including lip biting, rocking back and forth, humming, teeth grinding, or chewing gum.
We report an interesting case of a 12-year-old girl who developed trichotillomania after being prescribed Adderall for her ADHD. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of Adderall-induced trichotillomania.
Trichotillomania can be related to emotions, including: Negative feelings. Pulling out hair may be a way of dealing with negative or uncomfortable feelings, such as stress, anxiety, tension, boredom, loneliness, extreme tiredness or frustration.
A 23-year-old Asian woman with fluoxetine non- responsive trichotillomania was treated with sustained release bupropion (up to 450 mg/day) and cognitive behavior therapy. She demonstrated clinically significant improvement on the Clinical Global Impression - Improvement scale by week 13.
“Don't Look Up” actor Leonardo DiCaprio is believed to have trichotillomania due to openly sharing on multiple accounts of suffering from OCD. Leo has spoken about living with OCD throughout his childhood and adult life.
This can range from a small reduction in the volume of hair re-growing, to chronic permanent damage where most or all of the hair is no longer re-growing in the area that has been pulled for normally many years.
Therapy can help people overcome trichotillomania. The most widely used type of therapy is called habit-reversal training (HRT). It's a type of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). In this therapy, people meet with a therapist to learn skills to help them reverse the hair pulling habit.
For some, trich can be highly disruptive in their lives. For others, they are able to find a place of acceptance and ways to manage their pulling. Some people seem to just be simply unbothered by it.
In addition to reducing the urge to pull, it is believed vitamin D supplementation significantly improved hair regrowth, which is often not seen after treatment with antidepressants or other medications alone. Studies have identified the use of vitamin D3 analogs to stimulate hair regrowth.
The good news is that trichotillomania hair loss typically isn't permanent, and there are plenty of ways to encourage new growth, from PRP therapy to topical medications.
One of the best distractions for conditions such as trichotillomania and the feelings of stress and anxiety is fidget toys.