Berkeley Parents Network: Plucking Out Hair (Trichotillomania)

Berkeley Parents Network

Plucking Out Hair (Trichotillomania)

Berkeley Parents Network > Advice > Worries Big & Little > Plucking Out Hair (Trichotillomania)

Oct 2004

Can anybody give me some advice on hair pulling, I have a 3 year old who's been pulling hair for the last year, and it's getting real bad. I have started to hold his hands and tell him no and to stop because it hurts. and i also have swatted him on the side of his leg, but I think it hurts me more than it does him. He attends pre school ans pulls hair 3 to 4 times a day everyday! help

A few months ago I read a column in the paper by a child psychologist about hair pulling. I was impressed with his answer to a family who's little girl was pulling her hair...He said tell the child she may pull her hair, but she has to go into the bathroom to do it. She can stay in there as long as she wants and pull as much as she wants to, but she can only pull her hair in the bathroom...that is her hair pulling place.Not a punishment, just her place to pull her hair. Apparently this worked well for this family. The girl stopped pulling her hair within a week and her bald spots filled in with new and healthy hair.

THe parents stopped pleading and giving any attention to the hair pulling, except to remind the child to go into the bathroom. The point being that the hair pulling was getting so much attention for the child, that why should she stop pulling...even negative attention is acceptable when you really want attention. If you thnk this might help you, you'd have to ask the teachers at your son's school to help you out on this...same thing, if he wants to pull his hair at pre-school he has to go into the bathroom, or into a particular corner or part of the room, alone to do it. Good luck. anon

Hair pulling (trychitilomania--sp?) may have a neurophysical component and/or be situationally induced by something in your child's home and/or school life. At any rate, hair pulling is considered a behavior of anxiety. I would urge you not to slap your child's thigh or do anything punitive. It is frustrating as hell (my daughter has a friend who does it--they are adolescents--and my daughter used to be irritated by it (and want to smack her friend's hand) until I had my daughter read about the condition). The child, by the way, is being treated, successfully, with cognitive behavior therapy. I sympathize but urge you not to be punitive, mentally or physically. Your kid can likely not help him/herself. Meds and therapy seem to work around this one. Good luck

Dec 2002

A 4year old girl in our family plucks her hair out and eats it. She has never had a haircut but is completly bald. There is more to her behavior than just pulling her hair out but I will not get into it. It seems to me that this behavior needs some attention. Does anyone have anything to say about it? Please help. worried relative

This condition is called Trichotilomania. You can surely find information on the web. It is treatable. Good luck

It's called trichotillomania and it's a treatable, obsessive- compulsive type disorder. There's a place in the South Bay, Santa Cruz maybe?, dedicated to helping people with it. Their web address is http://www.trich.org. Get her some help while she's young; maybe it'll be easier to deal with. anon

Her condition is called tricatellamania (sp?)...sorry, don't know how to spell it. I have it too and never got treated for it and wished that i did. I had it since I was 15 years old. I've heard that it is more common in women than in men, and it is usually associated with some kind of childhood traumatic experience. I've had some bad experiences from my childhood, but I never talked to a psychiatrist about it to know wether or not it is related. Apparently there is a specific medication that helps with it. One of the symptoms in older children and adults is shame and embarrasment. That is why i haven't seeked out help. I strongly encourage you to speak up or seek help for this child. It could be a sign that something very stressful or traumatic is going on for her. It shouldn't be ignored. My condition was ignored when I was young...a big mistake. I now have areas of my hair that will never grow back. Anon

Your child needs to see a pediatric psychologist. Another possibility would be going to a Pediatric Dermatologists first. These kids usually respond to medical therapy for a six month period of time. I had one patient who stopped pulling out her own eyelashes and hair and then even pulled out the hair and ate it of her Barbie. It is correctable. Don't Worry But get it Treated

I have a VERY similar sort of behavior. There is actually a name for it, trichotillomania. You can find out more about it at http://www.trich.org/ . It's basically a form of impulse control/obsessive compulsive disorder. It can be associated with other similar disorders/habits (for example, I also compulsively doodle, destroy napkins and roll them into little balls, chew pens, etc.) As with other disorders of the type the typical treatments are cognitive behavior therapy and drugs. The girl's parents would do well to take her to a psychiatrist with experience in this type of disorder anon

Hair pulling or plucking anywhere on the body is also called Trichotillomania and is a subset of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and has to do with altered brain chemistry and possibly genetics. You can get a vast amount of information about it by searching with that word at www.Google.com - for example www.trich.org and others Also there is a yahoo group for people with Trichotillomania that you could join and ask questions. I found then just now for you, again by using Google groups.yahoo.com/group/Trichotillomania-friends/ ''A community to support people with trichotillomania (compulsive hair pulling). We aim to discuss, help and mutually support each other in our efforts to understand and control this impulse control disorder. We are a group of lay people who have lived with this difficult condition for some time. Anyone who has trich or has a relative or friend with trich is welcome to join. We aim to include all opinions and age groups and talk on issues mainly related to trich but also sharing some of our other lives.'' Good luck! Christine

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