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idontgottaname
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24 Feb 2011, 7:09 am

My girlfriend has Trichotillomania, as well as high funtioning autism. It varies in severity, from going months without mention, to her having freak outs because she has pulled out so much...

I was wondering if anyone else on here suffers from it.



youwho
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24 Feb 2011, 11:01 am

I guess I've kind of started.

Usually I just keep peeling bits of skin off my bottom lip, and occasionally pull out the odd eyebrow hair.
However last October I bumped my head in a car which must have made it bleed slightly and it later left a scab right in the middle of the top of my head. Now I keep picking at that scab as well and the occasional hair comes out still rooted in the bits of skin I'm peeling off.

This behaviour increases the more anxious I am, like right now I am supposed to be doing some Artificial Intelligence coursework in Prolog and I am getting really worried about it.

I should probably learn to do something a bit less conspicuous and unpleasant.



dooneybourkegrl
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24 Feb 2011, 5:50 pm

I do it to a degree, but not to where there are bald spots like I've seen with some people. I just pull out a few strands of hair here and there that bother me and don't stay in the ponytail. If they really bother me, I'll cut them out, but that's very rare. It only happens if I'm super stressed out about something (fight, upcoming doctor appointment, weigh in/anorexia, etc.)


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Postures
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14 May 2011, 7:32 pm

I've had it since I was 9.


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Jellybean
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15 May 2011, 5:37 am

I've only done it once, so it's obviously not that, but I plucked most of my eyebrow out when I was severely anxious about something... I have a friend who has Tourettes/ADHD and Trichotillomania. She does end up with bald patches sometimes. She's got a therapist who deals with HRT (habit reversal therapy) who has taught her to do something with her hands to stop her needing to pull her hair. She now knits REALLY well and enjoys it. Being able to pull and twist the wool gives her the same feeling now as pulling her hair used to. She even took part in a knitathon recently for charity!


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Mama_to_Grace
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17 May 2011, 12:08 pm

My daughter has it. Although she hasn't been pulling lately. Last year she pulled eyelashes and hair constantly. We believe it may have been a side effect as she was taking Zoloft at the time. Her OCD stuff is much better now that she is off the Zoloft (strangely enough). I say strangely enough because Zoloft is supposed to be a treatment for OCD.