Pulling hair out - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Message Board

Melissa1983 · 09-24-2005, 11:26 PM

Hey everyone

I have had this probably for over 8 years now.. I pull my hair out. When I get in stressful situations, I tend to run my fingers through my hair and pull one or two out.. it comes as a satisfaction for me. I haven't yet faced this as a problem until now. Has this happened to anyone???

Rockon78 · 09-25-2005, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Melissa1983

Hey everyone

I have had this probably for over 8 years now.. I pull my hair out. When I get in stressful situations, I tend to run my fingers through my hair and pull one or two out.. it comes as a satisfaction for me. I haven't yet faced this as a problem until now. Has this happened to anyone???

Hi Melissa,
I pulled my hair out when I was a child. I ended up having a little bald patch on the top of my head, because I pulled hair from the same little spot all the time. My mom noticed it, she seen the regrowth and asked me about it. I was scared when she seen it and questioned me about it (don't remember exactly what she said) but, I don't think I did it after that. Now I have a little cowlick in that spot. When I was a teenager, I would pull a few hairs out every now and than.
~Peace~

GatsbyLuvr1920 · 09-25-2005, 08:04 PM

It's an Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorder (OCSD) called trichotillomania. I have another OCSD that's similar- I don't pull out my hair, but I compulsively skin-pick. My cuticles on my fingers and toes are all bad, and my scalp is full of infected sores, but I can't stop...

-GatsbyLuvr1920-

hry33 · 09-27-2005, 05:32 PM

an antidepressant med often helps by reducing tha anxiety and OCD
relaxation and more exercise also help, OCD being an anxiety disorder

GatsbyLuvr1920 · 09-27-2005, 05:55 PM

Actually, unless you have full-blown OCD in conjunction with trich, an SSRI might not be all that effective. Usually, with OCSD's, the outcome needs to be cured with CBT or using meds in conjunction with CBT. Medicine alone, in most cases, turns out poor results...
-GatsbyLuvr1920-