If I have a bad hair pulling disorder..?!

Compulsive hair pulling is called trillotrichomania and hair-eating is called trichophagia. There is a possibility that you could develop a mass of hair in your stomach, but that's only if your eating a lot. If Rogaine is helping, that's great, and therapy is the obvious answer unfortunately.

There is one possible psychological technique that might work. It's called 'mindfulness' and itcould be adapted to your needs. Its a process in which you become aware of your actions and then consciously stop the impulse or thought. In your case, when you begin to pull or eat your hair; you stop, say internally to your-self "I am aware that I am pulling my hair, and I want to stop", then you link that thought with another one "now that I'm aware of what I'm doing, I have the power to stop", and then you actually stop the action and do something else. The 'something else' could be as simple as picking up an object, moving to a different position or starting an activity (reading or getting a drink for example) It doesn't have to be big to be effective. The idea is, that if you link the thoughts together often enough it will become automatic. You will start to pull/eat your hair, your brain will say stop, and you will move to do something else.

I'm not suggesting that this is the answer to all your problems, but in the absence of therapy it's the only thing I could think of. I have done this myself to stop negative thought patterns with some success. Good luck!

Personal experience with this technique in psychotherapy
Part degree in psychology

so i had kinda the same problem where i was constantly pulling my.
it was either nervousness or stress frustration.
i managed to stop.
i took cod liver oil to help with my hair

me

I believe you, it is called Trichotillomania, and it is a form of compulsive disorder.

I am stopping the biting of my finger cuticles around my nails by using rubber bands on my wrists, and snapping one each time I chew on the skin. I know how you feel. I know this treatment that I'm doing for myself is a type of cognitive-behavioral treatment.

It starts with you understanding and noticing when you do it. And then take it from there. I'm sure sometimes you do it and don't even notice.

Check out the wikipedia article and take it form there. Good luck to you.

Your grandma could be right, or extremely wrong in saying that you can fix it yourself. Is very hard and I know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichotillo…

i knew someone with Trichotillomania too.

id go to the site below for some tips. one thing a shrink would do is list reasons why its bad to pull hair, and anytime ur feeling anxious or antsy just pull that list out to remind u why its bad. its alot like quitting smoking, and ur the one who has to quit cold turkey, there really isnt any substitute for hair pulling or any alternative...maybe pinching yourself..? i dont really know. but good luck to you, i believe u can quit!

hope this helps

http://www.hairboutique.com/tips/tip570.…

It's ok, this is not gross or weird or anything, and it's actually not that unusual. It's called trichotillomania, and it is a type of compulsive behavior related to anxiety (I only know this because I have it too, and have had it since I was young, probably like 8 or 9 years old).

I haven't had any treatment for it either, but I notice that my symptoms get way worse when I am feeling stressed or anxious about something. It's weird but I feel almost a sense of relief from pulling the hairs. So I think the first step you need to take is identify what it is that makes you pull the hairs or what makes it worse (for me it's anxiety/stress/boredom). Then you can work on reducing the behavior from there. If stress makes it worse, find other ways to deal with it (exercise, listen to music, read, meditation, etc), or if it's boredom, then find something that keeps your hands busy (like knitting or writing).

Therapy and behavior reversal therapy techniques have actually been proven effective in treating this disorder, so I think you should keep asking your grandma to get you help. There are also some medications (SSRI's) that have been proven to help this as well. Maybe you could show your grandma some information on the internet so she realizes that this IS a real disorder, and there is treatment available for it.

Best of luck to you!