Author Joyce Scarborough
Joyce Scarborough is a writer. Like 40 million people worldwide, she also suffers from an inability to stop pulling out hair – trichotillomania.
But she’s not shy about the condition. In fact, she’s basing her new humorous novel on it.
“See, I figured that if I literally had to pull out my hair trying to get attention for my books, I might as well write about it and use it for promotion,” she told blogger Susan Whitfield in a recent interview.
Protagonist who can’t stop pulling her hair out
Scarborough has written three published novels, and the latest, Symmetry, focused on a protagonist with trichotillomania.
According to Scarborough, “There has never been a protagonist in a novel with trichotillomania, and I hope to present both myself and my heroine as positive role models for the millions of people with this common physical disorder, many of whom don’t even know that what they do has a name.”
The author believes that using a novel, instead of creating a reference book, might be a better way to raise awareness among “the general public and the woefully uniformed medical community.”
Comments on natural anxiety treatments
Scarborough notes that the lack of awareness may be denying people treatment. “I’m tired of people with this disorder being told by their doctors that they’re crazy or defective when they simply have a nervous system disorder that is no more shameful than ADD/ADHD.”
She points out that people have received good results from using the same drugs to treat ADD/ADHD.
We commend Scarborough for her work and her interest in generating awareness. We also urge her and her readers to consider the underlying cause of trichotillomania – an imbalance of neurotransmitters.
Hair-pulling and humor?
We love Scarborough’s sense of humor. The book is about a woman’s difficulties dealing with “a troubled marriage, her ticking biological clock, a domineering mother, and an unexpected attraction to a sweet and sexy man from her past. Is it any wonder she pulls out her hair?”
We also would like to applaud Susan Whitfield for interviewing Joyce Scarborough about the book, and for helping bring to light more information about trichotillomania. Scarborough points out that nearly 8 million people in the US suffer from the condition, including actor Colin Farrell.
And while the author shares the condition with the book’s heroine, “Neither of us are ashamed to admit it!”
Our best advice is to read the book, and also discover a natural way to help people stop pulling hair out.
