[kate Johnson]

What exactly can this include?

[lynn P.]

Can you be more specific? This refers to pulling out hair from the scalp, eyebrows or eyelashes. Here's a good link - click on the blue titles to the left of the page.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/tri...CTION=symptoms

[LiteraryLark]

How is this a disorder? It's a human habit, even if it's extreme, in the end, it's just something that makes us human.

[siljie]

It's more than just a habit; I can tell you that much. I guess you have to have been a sufferer to fully understand. My trich was really bad all the way up til middle school when I started other treatments and such. I had a big bald spot on the top of my head and I also used to pull under my bangs and the hair near my neck where no one could really see. It's not like a habit where you just try it a couple times consciously and get adapted to it, it's a physical impulse that's extremely hard to resist and doesn't have to wait at least 30 days to fully form.

As far as what it includes, I agree with Lynn P. It's the impulsive pulling of hair.

[Trippin2.0]

I used to do that, from childhood to the end of HS. Stopped after I pulled out my hairline. Just stopped.

It really is not a habit, just as dermatillomania is not a habit, this is very much like saying that something like OCD is just a habit.

There is a genuine compulsion, and impulse behind these disorders, I suffered from skin picking (dermatillomania) for years ( and I did not limit myself to skin alone ). When I would engage in these behaviors I would be in a trance like state. This trance like state allowed me to feel a calm rush over me when nothing else could. I would spend hours and hours straight in the bathroom picking and unable to stop or leave and do something else. I would have rituals that would surround my experience. This interfered with my life a great deal. There is a reason why "mania" is part of the name, if you look it up in this term, meaning madness, or a nicer way to put it than the Etymology site that was from is ..an irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action. Not mania as in Bipolar.

My friend has suffered with trichotillomania since she was five, she is now nearly 30 and still cannot overcome this disorder, she pulls her hair, eyelashes and brows, and any other hair that is available on her body. It's not easy for her to "answer" when people question why she has no brows or lashes, she is quit self conscious about it, if she could just stop, and stay stopped that easily she would.

There is not a ton of treatment for these disorders where we live, and frankly they go unrecognized and fall by the way side.

[Gus1234U]

Trich ran in my family, it was triggered in adulthood by trauma or stress, and continued life-long in my mother and grandmother. i managed to reduce it to limited and occasional occurance, during my use of the brain repair technology, holosync (see CenterPointe.com). but for 17 yrs i was totally out of control, always with bald patches on my scalp, and often totally bald. i would even pull the hair on my legs and other places. it felt so good while it was happening, but i felt so bad that i couldn't stop.

i was told that it was a malfunction of the grooming reflex, in the middle part of the brain. i was even offered psych meds for OCD's for it, but they didn't work for me. i did find some relief from acupuncture, when i went to quit smoking. it is akin to biting the fingernails. don't let anyone tell you it's not involuntary. at its worst, people will pull their hair out in their sleep and eat it~!

anyway, i can go out in public now without a wig or hat, so i'm happy. and i wish the same for any of you who suffer from OCDs.

[missmorganxo]

my mom has trich and has pulled out almost all of her hair at certain times in her life. i have a mild form of it and pull out hair when i'm really anxious. i pull it out where it's unnoticeable, but have had a few mild bald spots. have also pulled out eyelashes. i absolutely hate it and can't figure out a way to completely stop.

[lizardlady]

I agree with Anika. Saying trich is a "habit" is like saying OCD is a "habit."

Gus, one of my meds is supposed to help with trich. It hasn't helped remove the urge/compulsion.

Maybe I'm fooling myself, but I've reached a truce with the need to hair pull. I limit when I do it and what part of my body I pull hair from so it doesn't show. Yes, ideally I would find a way to quit, but the compromise works for me.

Thankfully mine has never given me severe problems like bald spots or other issues, but I'm a moderate eyelash puller. I really never realize when I'm doing it. Usually it is when I am stressed & before bed, I suppose to relax myself enough into slumber. Habits & compulsions are different, though the line where they differ is quite blurry. No one in their right mind would favour pulling their hair or skin off over, say... A habit of taking a warm bath every night to ground yourself. A habit is voluntary, to an extent, meanwhile a compulsion is distressing & to an extent involuntary. ****, if I could stop, my eyes wouldn't be so itchy & mascara would actually look attractive on me. Haha!