Trichotillomania
Are you struggling with a Trichotillomania?
A CBT therapist can help you to identify patterns in your behaviour. It can also help you cope with feelings that are difficult to manage, which could be the cause of your habit. Habits can be treated using both face-to-face and online therapy.
What is a Trichotillomania?
Trichotillomania, also known as trich, is when you cannot resist the urge to pull out body hair. You may pull out the hair on your head or in other places, such as your eyebrows or eyelashes.
Trich is more common in teenagers and young adults and is known as a habit disorder.
Habit disorders can range from hair pulling (trichotillomania) and lip biting to gambling and pathological stealing (kleptomania).
When to seek treatment for Trichotillomania
You should consider treatment for Trichotillomania when:
You can’t stop yourself from pulling your hair out
Your habit is leading to undesirable results (such as bald patches)
Your hair pulling is disruptive to your work, social life, school or appearance
You've developed feelings of shame and low self-esteem
Hair pulling gives you a sense of relief
You regularly eat your hair
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What you need to know
In a clinical setting, Habit Reversal Training is a gold standard of treatment for trichotillomania (compulsive hair-pulling), dermatillomania (excessive skin picking), onychophagia (chronic nail-biting), and other body-focused repetitive behaviours (BFRBs). Habit Reversal Training is scientifically proven to help you reduce and take control of your unwanted repetitive behaviours.
Trichotillomania is commonly treated using a type of CBT called habit reversal training.
This aims to help you replace a bad habit with something that's not harmful. Treatment usually involves:
Keeping a diary of your hair pulling
Working out the triggers for your hair pulling and learning how to avoid them
Replacing hair pulling with another action, like squeezing a stress ball
Loved ones providing emotional support and encouragement
Antidepressants are not usually prescribed to treat trichotillomania.
This aims to help you replace a bad habit with something that's not harmful. Treatment usually involves:
Keeping a diary of your hair pulling
Working out the triggers for your hair pulling and learning how to avoid them
Replacing hair pulling with another action, like squeezing a stress ball
Loved ones providing emotional support and encouragement
Antidepressants are not usually prescribed to treat trichotillomania.
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We offer online, phone or face to face therapy. Contact us to get matched to the right therapist for you.