Trichotilomania : Hair pulling disorder

1. Person pulls hairs
2. Person feels urge or impulse before pulling hairs.
3. After pulling hairs person feels relief of tension.

How common is trichotillomania?

1. In general less than 1% people suffer from trichotilomania.
2. Females suffer more than males.

Why to treat trichotilomania?

1. In trichotillomania due to repetitive loss of hairs person looks bad cosmetically.
2. Almost one third people with trichotilomania chew their pulled hairs. These chewed hairs make hair ball in their stomach. Person’s intestine gets blocked and person’s health gets deteriorated.
3. Many times person with trichotilomania suffers from anxiety, depression, sleep problems and alcohol use.
4. To prevent these side effects of trichotilomania person must be treated.

How to treat trichotilomania:

1. Psychotherapy:

• • CBT cognitive behavior therapy
  • Insight oriented therapy
  • Habit reversal therapy.

2. Medicines