Well, I said I'd keep you updated...

...I had a consultation with a private therapist yesterday. It went quite well, I think - he was really easy to talk to, and the room was good as well - I thought it'd be him at a desk, but it was two armchairs. He asked me a lot of questions, mainly about how I got on with other people and how I coped when I was the centre of attention, and came to the conclusion that I have social phobia, which I wasn't expecting. (I think I'll be doing some reading about it, but I did seem to fit quite a few of the symptoms.) But he told me that might be linked to the hair pulling, so if we concentrate more on treating the social phobia then it should still help with the hair pulling as well. I've been given some questionnaires to do before I see him again - one testing for compulsions, one for depression, and one about phobias, I think.

I didn't mean to write so much! Anyway, I've got another session next Thursday.

hey there! I also suffer from social phobia, and eventhough it is pretty self explanatory, reading up on it is always a good thing to do to become more familiar with it. Also i wanted to say that it is good that you are doing this, and when you fill out those surveys, try to be as truthful as possible. Best of luck and i am glad that the session went well for you.

This is a really good site devoted to just social phobia. It has lots of information on it that can be beneficial to learning about it if you want.
http://www.socialphobia.org/

xx Kate

I have social anxiety too (same thing - it can be worded either way). It did help to find out what it was, and what symptoms are related to that. It kind-of explained a lot. And it was also reassuring that other people have it too, so I knew that I wasn't as alone as I felt. I agree that there could be a link to the hair pulling, such as maybe pulling your hair is a way of coping with the anxiety.

Thanks, behndblueyes! I tried filling out the surveys today...I'm not sure how to answer some of the questions - for example, one of them is asking how often you feel sad, and the first two options are "I do not feel sad" and "I feel sad much of the time"...I don't feel sad a lot, but I don't feel happy all the time either, so I didn't know which box to tick - but I managed to get most of them done.

Thanks for the link, too!

Thanks for replying, Rapunzel. I agree, knowing I'm not the only one helps. I'm still not completely sure about how social phobia differs from shyness, though...I'll ask on the anxiety board.