Trichotillomania, or ‘trich’, often shows its first signs in childhood. In fact, we see trichotillomania in children as much as in adults, and the majority of the adults we work with had their first symptoms of trich as children.

It is not uncommon for trichotillomania in children to start right around puberty. I haven’t seen any data to give concrete rationale why this is, however, it would not be a stretch to say that there are obviously a lot of hormonal changes going on during this period as well as elevated stress due to social pressures, body changes and self-awareness. These coupled together could cause or exacerbate the neurotransmitter changes that often lead to trichotillomania in children and the urge to pull.

However, it is interesting that we see many children, mostly girls, that exhibit trichotillomania symptoms well before puberty. We have a large number of girls that are between 7-11 years old that have been diagnosed with trichotillomania or have been referred to us by their parents after they have done their own searching on the internet to try and determine what is happening with their kids.

The great news is that children often respond very quickly with amino acid therapy. In fact, we’ve only had a couple cases where amino acid therapy hasn’t completely eliminated the urge to pull in these kids.

For parents, seeing their kids pulling, or the effects of their pulling – such as missing eyebrows or eyelashes, bald spots on their head or other part of their bodies or bald spots on pets – can be a traumatic experience. However, it is often not until the parent sees the shame or despair in their child’s eyes when they talk about pulling or not being able to stop or help themselves that the true tragedy of this condition hits home.

Trichotillomania in children is reversible with amino acid therapy. Once your child experiences this relief, you will be able to look into your child’s eyes and see not shame, fear or despair, but the joy of being a kid free from the burden of trich.