The current medical treatments for trichotillomania typically involve the use of reuptake inhibitors. As discussed in other writings on this blog, these drugs cause further depletion of neurotransmitters in the system which makes the underlying problem worse, often causing a worsening of symptoms or new symptoms (such as anxiety, depression or other compulsions) to develop. Thus, most of these medical trichotillomania treatments are not very effective. In fact, using drugs as a trichotillomania treatment usually results in one of the following conditions to occur:
- Symptoms (i.e., pulling) gets worse
- The drug quits working after a period of time or does nothing to create a decrease in symptoms from the start of treatment
- Over time (and this may be only a few days), severe neurotransmitter depletion caused by the drugs increases thoughts of suicide.
We have seen people exhibiting all of these behaviors in our clinic as we work with people the trichotillomania. In fact, it is extremely common for people taking drugs as a treatment for trichotillomania to become worse (i.e., have more intense urges to pull and/or develop other symptoms) as the drugs further deplete the neurotransmitter levels in the brain. We have found, as have other clinics that utilize amino acid therapy, that the only way to prevent this problem is to give the person the nutrients that the brain needs to synthesize neurotransmitters. By doing so, the medical trichotillomania treatments will not cause further depletion of neurotransmitters.
