In talking with a colleague the other day, I was struck with a realization that I found very interesting. We have found a significant portion of the people we see with trichotillomania exhibit traits of a ‘Type A personality’ including being high-achievers. This is especially true amongst the young women that we work with.
It seems that many of these young women have very high standards for themselves, both academically and often times, athletically. They are very driven, intelligent and resourceful, leading very productive lives with several outside interests to keep them busy.
And pulling drives them crazy.
Not in a literal sense, but figuratively pulling is the one major wrench that screws up their otherwise happy lives. Most of the time, their friends don’t know about their pulling and trying to hide it from the world causes them an enormous amount of stress and anxiety. This additional stress seems to fuel the cycle that increases their urges to pull and can often bring them to tears on a regular basis.
I don’t have a solid basis as to why so many young women with trich are high-achievers, but it is an interesting enough observation that I wanted to share it with you. Luckily, from a clinical standpoint, these people are also some of the easiest to work with as they are very compliant and follow through on recommendations. This allows us to progress as quickly as possible to get them urge-free and on with their busy lives.
If you are one of these high-achievers and you want to eliminate your urges to pull, please contact us. We’d love to help stop worrying about your urges to pull and free up that energy for more productive (and fun) pursuits!
