What kinds of therapy would take place? I am thinking of trying to kick the habit. I've tried fidget toys and stress balls, but I spend HOURS with my focus zeroed in on them, like I would with my hair. I found it a waste of time and I didn't even remove any hair, so after those hours wasted, I then went in on my hair....

I think stopping would help with my relationships. Maybe it would remove some mental blocks. But also, I have no people I'm close to right now so I don't really care to stop.

So: I guess it would depend on the therapy. What should I expect if I ask a therapist about this? And, do you have tips for me stop on my own, because therapy has never worked for me?

Thanks.

[Angelique67]

Have you tried wearing a hat or gloves? I'm at the stage of my life now where my hair is so thin and I don't think it will ever recover. I'm post menopausal too, so I think that contributes to the low success rates of growing new hair.

When I had it bad, I used a hat to make myself stop and it helped.

[Tbhimscared]

I've mentioned my hair pulling and skin picking to my T and she said there isn't that much that can really be done besides transferring that to something else (stress balls etc). If you carry out the actions because you believe something horrible will happen, you could try exposure therapy to prove to yourself that it is safe to not pull/pick. But if it's more anxiety/stress based it's harder to overcome (in my opinion). It seems like it's one of those things that you'd have to stop for a long time to finally be comfortable with not carrying out the compulsion, like how people don't eat sugar for a month or so they start to stop craving it at all (not exactly the same but that's the best example I could think of lol). I'm extremely claustrophobic of spaces and temperature (if that makes sense) so I would try gloves except they make me feel trapped so I panic, same thing wth hats. Thankfully I pick at my skin more than pull my hair, so it regrows much faster than hair does, although it is a bit more gross (blood etc)
I hope anything I mentioned ^^ helps!

[Angelique67]

Have you ever been prescribed meds for this,? Maybe they would help.

[Tbhimscared]

Originally Posted by Angelique67

Have you ever been prescribed meds for this,? Maybe they would help.

I don't even know what kinds of meds they could give me, I've tried Effexor, Prozac and I'm on Wellbutrin now and none of them have really helped any of it

Maybe I will try gloves. The thing is, I have lost hope for a lot of things that I just don't care about my physical well being (I'm sure the trich is wreaking havoc on my hormones, and I heard you could get cancer when your body is always growing hair and skin abnormally, etc) or mental wellbeing that much. My trich isn't overwhelmingly unbearable, so I've just let the problem continue....

[ayana95]

I pull my hair. I usually keep it shaved short and wear wigs. Its hard for it to grow back even. I even pull my wig. I try to do something else with my hands like journaling. I even thought of getting acrylic nails so it would be harder to pull.

[Blaire]

I pick my scalp, and it's definitely a problem, but I've never brought it up in therapy. I'm afraid my therapist would be grossed out seeing me touch his chair and doorknobs knowing I have been messing around with open sores. I take medication for anxiety, which definitely has improved my anxiety, but the habit is so ingrained that the meds haven't helped it.