Can You Treat Trichotillomania ?

By Eve Guerard


Trichotillomania is an impulse control or brain disease similar to OCD or addiction where the person pulls out their own hair. The hair can be located anywhere. Trichotillamania may be caused by trauma, rape, physical violence, torture, child abuse, and very severe emotional abuse. It may be minor and easily managed or severe. This disease can overwhelm the person. It is very important for the person with this disease to eliminate or minimize exposure to any severely negative people in their life that are abusive or exploitative. It is an emotional disorder that usually needs several therapies in order to be managed successfully. There are many alternative therapies which are untried for this illness, but these may successful due to the large emotional component of the illness. Trichotillomania seems similar to addiction, OCD, and a bad habit. Quieting the mind should be one of the goals of any therapy. Alternative therapies that quiet the mind include Yoga, scalp acupuncture, auricular acupuncture, Emotional Freedom Technique(EFT), botanical extracts, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS),and orthomolecular medicine.[]

True enough, such brands of therapy have been conjured up long before we had the education in this condition that we do today, but trichotillomania in adults has become a past memory for a vast many. It used to be (and even presently this still persists to some degree) that "trich" was treated just the same way as an obsessive compulsive disorder ("OCD"). Utilizing the same drugs to treat OCD, these were used to treat trichotilllomania in adults and in children, using antidepressant drugs with serotonergic properties (such as with Cloropramine, also called Anafranil).

Today, more behaviorally based therapies are in use, and with insurmountably high success rates. Especially successful are of the type known as "behavioral substitution", or "behavioral replacement" therapies. These actually provide a means for patients to educate themselves further on their conditions while they benefit from them. Many have changed from drug therapies over to the more behaviorally base therapies as a result of the successes that are had by thousands of sufferers, even with cases of trichotillomania in adults.

The first and the foremost way to cure trichotillomania is to know almost everything about it. Hair pulling disorder is basically a mental disorder or variance that leads to several horrid consequences like pathological nail biting, gambling, picking ones own skin, setting up fires, stealing and aggressive behavior and pulling own hair. However, several people have different takes on pulling hair disorder. Some experts believe that it is an anxiety disorder, a tic or addiction whereas others believe that it is an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). It is interesting to know that the term disorder was given to trichotillomania only 20 years ago.

The development of a universal trichotillomania treatment that works for anyone has had some recent breakthroughs, using more archetypical psychological methods which have an effect on everyone. Putting these methods to use and applying these techniques with diligence, sufferers everywhere have been completely curing themselves of this condition and regaining higher quality of life. These techniques are a simple and well structured plan of trichotillomania treatment which usually takes less than ten minutes to implement with effects which last life long.For a trichotillomania treatment to be effective, you need to attack the cause. There's no miracle cure-all pill to take care of this problem, and that is due to the condition not stemming from a biochemical root. There exist some medications which are engineered to change certain behavioral activities however this merely produces a temporary fix, if indeed a functional fix at all, for the situation. One should well note that this only produces an effect while you continue to take the medications, only seeming to postpone the condition, not improving it. Obviously, this wouldn't the most prudent course of trichotillomania treatment.

The onset of the symptoms is between the range of ages from nine to fourteen. Reports claim that more than 75-95% patients suffering from hair pulling disorder are females. The primary symptoms might lead to several other secondary symptoms like depression or panic attacks. The main root cause of pulling hair disorder is still unclear. However, many people believe that it is a genetic disorder. There are several other people who believe that trichotillomania is a learned behavior thereby refuting its genetic basis.

Many doctors suggest that one can cure in two important ways. The first way of treatment involves the use of drugs or medications whereas the second treatment to stop hair pulling disorder involves the use of psychological intervention.Medication based therapy: This involves the use of several medications and drugs to cure trichotillomania owing to the fact that its root cause is the chemical imbalance created in the brain.Psychology based therapy: This involves the use of several behavioral or psychological therapies and training protocols to cure trichotillomania owing to the fact that its root cause is the learned behavior itself.There are five simple ways to cure trichotillomania.

However, behavioral trichotilllomania therapy reports show long term success rates of 90% or higher. This can include multiple means of therapy of both generally accepted and controversial types. Among the more controversial variety are the punishment procedural types of trichotillomania therapy, which can include mittens placed over the hands, topical creams used to increase pain, and even electric shock treatments. While these procedures are very intrusive, they are most often used with individuals who may be unable to consent, such as those suffering from serious developmental disabilities and young children.The more widely accepted forms of behavioral trichotillomania therapy, which reports the high success rate number mentioned earlier, are of the type known as habit reversal training. This educates sufferers more on this condition and teaches them to monitor their hair pulling habits while substituting them with more constructive, healthier habits. Some alternative forms of behavioral trichotillomania therapy can include hypnosis and the use of biofeedback mechanisms.




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