If you or someone you know is dealing with the severe urges to pull, pick and/or bite associated with trichotillomania and are looking for answers, it first helps to understand what trichotillomania is and what resources are available.
Understanding Trichotillomania
While nobody knows exactly what causes the increased urges to pull in those with trichotillomania, what is known is that for many people suffering with trich, the urges are due to imbalances in brain chemicals called neurotransmitters. Understanding trichotillomania begins and ends with this statement; once you realize that this is due to a brain chemistry imbalance, you can release any blame, guilt or shame you may have surrounding the urge to pull.
Trichotillomania isn’t due to something you did; it isn’t a choice you made or are making. You can’t will it to stop; it isn’t something that is completely under your control.
Understanding trichotillomania in this way is the first step to finding help for someone dealing with trichotillomania. The next step is finding a solution and the support you need.
Finding Help for Someone Dealing with Trichotillomania
No matter the cause of the neurotransmitter imbalance, you must correct it in order to find a lasting solution. The most effective way to do this is through the use of amino acid therapy.
Amino acid therapy involves taking a specific combination of amino acids and other nutrients to restore proper neurotransmitter function. Once neurotransmitter function is restored, symptoms due to imbalance, including the urges to pull associated with trichotillomania, improve and/or will likely disappear.
Once the urges to pull have resolved, the final step is eliminating the habit of pulling. This is where therapies like cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) can be invaluable. Once any underlying neurotransmitter imbalances have been corrected, CBT can help someone dealing with trichotillomania eliminate the habit of pulling; this may take some time, but using techniques learned through CBT can help a person dealing with trich in those times when no one else is around and they feel like pulling because that is what they have always done.
Resources for Those with Trichotillomania
Here are several resources you can use to help someone dealing with trichotillomania:
Stop Pulling Hair Out: https://stoppullinghairout.com/
Amino Acid Therapy: http://amino-acid-therapy.com/
Resources for Those with Trichotillomania: https://stoppullinghairout.com/?s=resources+for+trichotillomania
