Trichotillomania, or Compulsive Hair Pulling is a psychiatric disorder that makes people pull at their hair out of compulsion. This is a disorder that involves impulse control. Patients of this disease often face baldness and hair loss. This is associated with other conditions like depression, anxiety and also the Tourette syndrome. These illnesses generally refer to illnesses caused by a person's upbringing. There is no treatment however for this disease.
This can be taken care of by medicines used for anxiety disorders and depression. Associated with this psychiatric disorder of trichotillomania, are repetitive behavior syndromes like shouting obscenities, blinking and clearing the throat. Such illnesses are quite prevalent and they affect one out of the four Americans between the ages of 15 and 44. These disorders are social phobia, panic disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. Trichotillomania causes excessive hair loss. People with this disease also called TRICK are generally to pull hair from eyebrows, eyelashes and heads. These people play with the hair they have pulled out. They roll the hair strand within their fingers, face or skin and others swallow the hair or bite it.
There is no scientific cause for hair pulling. A variety of mental conditions could be responsible. This is generally considered a bad habit like biting of nails. This could be referred to as the obsessive compulsive disorder. This is an irresistible feeling and a great impulse to control disorder. Since this is considered to be an obsessive compulsive behavior, it is treated with the help of a therapist. Parents can help children with this habit while older children and adults would require professional help. People with this disease often feel left alone and isolated. There are peer groups to help them out and also therapists who can help improve their self image and boost their self confidence. The adverse effects of this disease are:
Hurting themselves and changing their looks.
Spending much time in pulling out hair.
This also cause worry or embarrassment
Early detection and intervention can eliminate or reduce this disease. The support groups are often found to be useful in treating this mental condition.
