A Little More About Trich

With this post, I wanted to go into a little more detail about trichotillomania (trich). Trichotillomania is an impulse control disorder, causing someone to pull out their own hair. The most common ages for the appearance of trichotillomania are 9 to 13 years old, and it is often caused by depression or high stress levels. Cases of trichotillomania are rarely reported because of how little attention has been brought to the disorder and because of the negative social reactions to trichotillomania. The areas that are most common for people to pull their hair from are the eyebrows, eyelashes, scalp, legs, arms, and pubic areas.
People with trichotillomania tend to pull one hair at a time, and continue to do so for hours on end, leading to major hair loss. These people may not even realize that they are pulling their hair when it is happening. Trichotillomania has been linked with drops in people's self esteem as well.

Some medical implications that can be caused by trich are:

• infection
• permanent hair loss
• repetitive stress injury
• carpal tunnel

It can be quite difficult for any doctor to diagnose someone with trichotillomania, especially is someone goes to extreme lengths to hide it.
Treatments can vary depending on someone's age. Younger children have been shown to outgrow the compulsion when managed properly. However, for higher ages, people are referred to behavior modification programs, or are referred to a psychologist, or psychiatrist.