Quote:
Originally Posted by jexa
Okay, we treat Trich at the clinic and this is what they'd have you do:
First, start noticing your hair-pulling triggers. Where are you doing it? What makes you do it? Can you tell when you're going to need to pull? Start noticing when you pull. Keep an inventory of all the times you pull and where you were when you had the urge. Start becoming aware of your pulling.
Once you can tell where you're going to pull, and what feeling makes you pull, you need to have a plan in place to do something else instead of pull. In habit reversal training (treatment for TTM), this is called a "competing response." Some people have a squeezy ball with them at all times. And when they get the urge to pull, they grab the squeezy ball, and they let that tension pass through them while they squeeze and squeeze. Sometimes you need to try different competing responses to find one that works for you, so you can notice the feeling that you have to pull, and satisfy it with something different. It might not feel the same, but it could get you through your urges so you don't have to start wearing a wig.
Hope this helps.
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Sounds similar to what I did when I was in therapy. I've not been officially diagnosed, but I've been pulling my hair out since I was about 12 or 13...thanks to therapy, though, I was able to stop for about a year and a half when I was 17-18. Unfortunately it came back last year, and hasn't really gone away since.
However, I found the best way to stop is to make sure I keep my hands away from my hair as much as possible - by the time I start playing with my hair, it's usually too late. Things like holding a pen lid or an eraser in my free hand helped, and wearing a hat and gloves is great when it gets cold enough to get away with it...I'm wearing a glove on my left hand right now, in fact.
It can feel very hard to stop at first, but it does get easier...and if you don't manage at first, don't be afraid to try again!
It took me at least five attempts at quitting, ranging between about nine days and two months, before I managed to stop for a year and a half.
I realise it might be a bit hypocritical to give this sort of advice when I'm struggling to follow the same advice myself
but I hope it helps. I'm on the waiting list for counselling at university, so I'm hoping it'll make a difference and I might manage to stop again. It's got to the point where it's actually hurting my hands and arms to pull but I still keep going, which worries me.