What medication works best for trichotillomania?

Although no medications are approved by the Food and Drug Administration specifically for the treatment of trichotillomania, some medications may help control certain symptoms. For example, your doctor may recommend an antidepressant, such as clomipramine (Anafranil).


What is the best medicine for trichotillomania?

SSRIs and clomipramine are considered first-line in TTM. In addition, family members of TTM patients are often affected by obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders. Other drugs used in the treatment of TTM are lamotrigine, olanzapine, N-Acetylcysteine, inositol, and naltrexone.

What can help with trichotillomania?

Treatment usually involves:
  • keeping a diary of your hair pulling.
  • working out the triggers for your hair pulling and learning how to avoid them.
  • replacing hair pulling with another action, like squeezing a stress ball.
  • loved ones providing emotional support and encouragement.


What is the root cause of trichotillomania?

Trichotillomania can be related to emotions: Negative emotions. For many people with trichotillomania, hair pulling is a way of dealing with negative or uncomfortable feelings, such as stress, anxiety, tension, boredom, loneliness, fatigue or frustration.

How do I get rid of trichotillomania permanently?

There is no one way to cure or prevent trichotillomania. However, treating the underlying negative emotions may help prevent the urge to pull your hair from coming back. Reducing or relieving stress and finding outlets for it may help reduce the urge to pull your hair. You may also want to consider therapy for stress.


How I Deal With OCD - Trichotillomania | Samantha Faiers



Is trichotillomania an OCD or anxiety?

Trichotillomania (often abbreviated as TTM) is a mental health disorder where a person compulsively pulls out or breaks their own hair. This condition falls under the classification of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

What is severe trichotillomania?

Trichotillomania, also known as “hair-pulling disorder,” is a type of impulse control disorder. People who have trichotillomania have an irresistible urge to pull out their hair, usually from their scalp, eyelashes, and eyebrows. They know they can do damage but often can't control the impulse.

Is trichotillomania a mental illness?

Trichotillomania is a body-focused repetitive behavior classified as an impulse control disorder (along the lines of pyromania, kleptomania, and pathologic gambling) which involves pulling out one's hair.


Is trichotillomania a form of anxiety?

Trichotillomania appears to be a fairly common disorder, with high rates of co-occurring anxiety disorders. Many individuals with trichotillomania also report that pulling worsens during periods of increased anxiety.

What happens in the brain with trichotillomania?

In people with trichotillomania, brain imaging studies have shown abnormalities in activity in certain regions of the brain, including areas involved in regulating impulses and habits, emotional processing, and reward processing. Neuroimaging research also points to abnormal activity in those with OCD.

What treatment has the highest success rate for trichotillomania?

Research has found Habit Reversal Training, a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), to be very effective for treating trichotillomania. It is the treatment of choice for this condition.


What are 3 symptoms of trichotillomania?

A person with trichotillomania may experience the following behavioral and physical symptoms:
  • repetitive pulling of their hair, often without any awareness.
  • a sense of relief after pulling out hair.
  • inability to stop hair pulling, despite repeated attempts to stop.
  • anxiety and stress related to hair pulling.


Why is trichotillomania difficult to treat?

Because the picking and pulling actually serve a purpose. This is why the behaviors can be so difficult to stop. A number of studies have found that some individuals with BFRBs have difficulty regulating their emotions.

Is trichotillomania a chronic illness?

If untreated, trichotillomania is a chronic illness that often results in substantial psychosocial dysfunction, and that can, in rare cases, lead to life-threatening medical problems.


Are there different levels of trichotillomania?

There are two types of trichotillomania. One is called automatic pulling and the other is called focused pulling. Kids with automatic hair-pulling often don't even realize they're doing it.

Is trichotillomania caused by trauma?

We can conclude that trauma may play a role in development of both trichotillomania and skin picking. Increased duration of trichotillomania or skin picking was correlated with decreased presence of post-traumatic stress symptoms.

Who suffers from trichotillomania?

People typically develop "trich" around age 12, and 75 percent of those who have it are female, according to research findings. Their compulsive hair pulling often results in a "thin" appearance on the scalp, says Mouton-Odum. Some people also pluck other hairy areas, such as their eyebrows, eyelashes or body hair.


Is trichotillomania a manic disorder?

Bipolar disorder falls under the category of mood disorders while trichotillomania falls under the category of Obsessive Compulsive and Related disorders.

Are you born with trichotillomania?

So, is trichotillomania inherited? Yes, it can be, but other factors also contribute to the condition. As research and studies continue, understanding of the causes of trichotillomania and other mental health disorders will increase and improve prevention and treatment options.

Is trichotillomania an addiction?

While hair pulling may be symptomatic of another mental health condition, Trichotillomania is actually considered its own disorder. People with Trichotillomania experience a strong urge to pull their hair out, and the act of hair pulling can become compulsive and addictive.


Does trichotillomania ever go away?

Trichotillomania is a recurrent, chronic compulsion to pull hair. It usually starts in early adolescence and can last a lifetime.

Is trichotillomania a depression?

Abstract. Objective: Trichotillomania (TTM) is associated with high rates of co-occurring depression and anxiety disorders.

What is the recovery rate for trichotillomania?

Among the participants, 24.9% of the people with lifetime trichotillomania reported that they no longer had symptoms of trich, and that they had never received treatment for it. These rates are similar to rates of natural recovery for other conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and substance abuse.


What is similar to trichotillomania?

Trichotillomania, compulsive non-cosmetic hair pulling, and Dermatillomania, compulsive skin picking, are two of the many Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRBs), in which a person can cause harm or damage to themselves or their appearance. Other BFRBs include biting the insides of the cheek and nail-biting.

Is trichotillomania related to schizophrenia?

Recurrent hair pulling resulting in hair loss, in the absence of a medical or another mental disorder is a diagnostic feature of trichotillomania. It is commonly seen in depression and many other psychiatric disorders. Trichotillomania rarely occurs as a co morbid condition in patients with schizophrenia.
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