Trichotillomania (compulsive pulling out of hair)

Trichotillomania (T) has the usual features of impulse control disorders--relief after the behavior, and usually a buildup of tension before, at least when the individual is attempting to control the behavior. T was thought to be rare, but earlier estimates may have been too low because victims are usually secretive about the behavior. As many as 1 to 2% of college students have had T at some time.  Hair may be pulled from any part of the body, but the scalp, eyebrows, and eyelashes are the most frequent targets. T must cause significant distress before it can be diagnosed. Most cases of hair-pulling don't qualify as T, and many cases remit over time. Others continue indefinitely. A January, 2000, study by Dr. Philip T. Ninan at the Emory University School of Medicine with a small group of patients who had been pulling out their hair for an average of 20 years indicated that cognitive-behavioral therapy was markedly superior to the anti-depressant drug, clomipramine, or to a placebo pill, for treating T; of five patients in the therapy group, four had completely stopped pulling out their hair by the end of the study, and the fifth was much improved. The placebo group showed no improvement; four of the six patients in the clomipramine group improved, but none were "cured," despite the fact that patients in the placebo and drug groups were also seeing a psychiatrist once a week. 

Read a book on the subject:

The Hair Pulling Habit and You: How to Solve the Trichotillomania Puzzle by Sherrie Mansfield Vavricheck, Ruth Goldfinger Golomb, Uri Yokel, Emily Condon-Douglas

Go to the T. Learning Center; it has general information and information about support groups in most states.

                                                                                                                                Last updated  12/19/03