Impact of Trichotillomania

Stress will always play a huge role in the hardships life brings. It can also cause more severe problems that can turn into depression or disorders, such as Trichotillomania. Trichotillomania is classified as an impulse control disorder where individuals pull strands of hair from certain parts of their bodies to find relief from anxiety. The emotional impact from Trichotillomania greatly affects your body’s appearance, social life, and is very time consuming. Though Trichotillomania isn’t a very common disorder, the most major impact that influences the duration of the disorder is the hair loss that causes the sufferer to feel more depressed, anti-social, and ashamed of themselves.

A person diagnosed with Trichotillomania usually has noticeable hair loss and impairment when involved in social interactions. A lot of sufferers deal with the disorder on their own, because they’re ashamed to show or tell people in order to find help. The amount of hair loss does reflect their interactions with other people, because the more hair they’ve pulled, the more likely their depression and self-consciousness could increase due to their lack of support. Each person with Trichotillomania will have different places where they pull their hair, triggers, and ways of hiding their hair in case of a social interaction.

As hair is basically found all over the human body, people with Trichotillomania will pull hair from any place that relieves any anxiety they feel. The most commonly pulled area on the body is on the head, mostly the scalp, which make facial hair loss harder to hide. “Because of a tendency to hide symptoms and because professionals are relatively unfamiliar with the disorder, individuals either may not seek or are not offered trea...

... middle of paper ...

...ks Cited

"Trichotillomania." Sandra L. Friedrich, MA. and Emily Jane Willingham, PhD. The Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Health. Ed. Kristin Key. 3rd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2012. 2 vols.

McDonald, K. Elizabeth. "Trichotillomania: identification and treatment." Journal of Counseling and Development 90.4 (2012): 421+. Junior Edition. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.

"Restoring hair, self-esteem." Daily Pilot [Costa Mesa, CA] 27 Nov. 2013. Infotrac Newsstand. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.

"Hair of Hope Launches New Website." GlobeNewswire. 11 Feb. 2013. Infotrac Newsstand. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.

Edith. “My Greatest Feat”. Trichotillomania Learning Center, Inc. 2008. All Rights Reserved.

Crosby, Jesse M., et al. "Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Habit Reversal Training for the Treatment of Trichotillomania." Cognitive and Behavioral Practice 19.4 (2012): 595+. Academic OneFile. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.