I've found out that my child hair pulling means she has a medical condition, should I rush her straight to the doctor?
Many doctors are not knowledgeable about Trichotillomania and even experts often advocate medication which may make symptoms worse. It is probably best to speak to your doctor, but to refuse medication.
Diet, distraction and reward are the best answers we’ve found.
Attention difficulties may be symptoms of Trichotillomania, but are often diagnosed separately.
Most of the major medical and psychiatric journals contain misinformation about trichotillomania and advocate the use of medications which can be harmful to tricsters.
You can call us on our helpline +447910 114739 and please watch the video on this page before calling, as most of our advice is there.
Some great tools created to help children stop BFRBs, all proceeds from which are donated to Trichotillomania Support
The symptoms of Trichotillomania sometimes include one or more of the following:
Organizational difficulties, such as forgetting homework or items which should be taken to school.
Attention deficit, behavioural problems and distress with boredom.
Obsessions and mood swings which are often misdiagnosed as anxiety or depression.
Hyper-sensitivity to most things, including noise, emotion, food, medicines and hormonal changes.
Insomnia, nightmares and/or night worrying. Problems getting over something which previously upset them.
Some professionals diagnose symptoms separately as, for instance, social anxiety disorder or depression.
Our studies of over five thousand people who have been medicated for Trichotillomania reveal that no one has stopped pulling through medication alone, and that 83% of those medicated were made worse. Anti-depressants and SSRIs do not work for Trichotillomania because serotonin is not in short supply, it is the mind’s reaction to it which is chemically reactive.
