In the News – Getting the Word Out About Trichotillomania

Snippet from the article:

Laura Forbes has a ten-a-day habit that she is desperate to break. She tries to keep her hands and her mind occupied, but when she does succumb to temptation she feels guilty and frustrated to have derailed another attempt to give it up for good.

Laura is not addicted to cigarettes or to any other well-known vice. She is a trichotillomaniac – one of more than a million women in Britain who are tormented by the constant urge to tear out their own hair.

That Laura is plucking only ten hairs from her head a day is a great triumph of willpower for a girl whose obsession, at its peak, left her bald from the crown to the front of her head.

Photo source

Read the full story at DailyMail UK — The secret compulsion that’s as disturbing as any eating disorder

Trichotillomania is an obsessive compulsive disorder, and the article delves into looks at what triggers the desire to pull out your hair and how to possibly treat it. There’s no single solution that has worked across the board for everyone, but research has pointed towards new treatment paths.

Just a little over a year ago, we wrote about an over-the-counter pill that might help control the compulsion, but I haven’t found any newer info about it. If I find out more, I’ll post it on this site.