Have you ever heard of trichotillomania? We bet you didn’t know such a word even exists. However, it does. It may sound nice and funny but the problem which is called like this is pretty complicated, just like the word trichotillomania itself.
Trichotillomania is a hair-pulling disorder.
People who have a hair-pulling disorder, constantly pull out their hair, which leads to partial hair loss. People suffering from a hair-pulling disorder may feel stress or anxiety just before pulling out their hair, and pulling out helps them to ease this nasty feeling.
Hair pulling is a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder. You should know that people with this disorder pull out their hair uncontrollably and for non-cosmetic reasons. That is, they do not pull out their hair in order to improve their appearance. Usually, they pull out the hair on the head, eyebrows and/or eyelashes, but in general, they can tear out the hair on any other parts of the body.
Unfortunately, if you’re a hairstylist in a beauty salon, you can’t help your client alone. Trichotillomania is quite a serious issue that requires a doctor's help and control. In some cases, it’s drug therapy, in others - a cognitive-behavioral therapy. During this therapy, people with this disorder learn how to do the following things:
- be aware of what they are doing;
- identify situations causing such actions;
- use strategies that help them stop pulling their hair out, for example, replacing pulling hair with other actions (such as clenching a fist, knitting, or sitting on hands).