trichotillomania

[augustine02]

hi everyone. i suffer from extreme anxiety as i’ve posted on here before. i also suffer from a hair pulling disorder. i notice that when i’m extremely anxious and depressed, it gets so bad. i pull on the sides of my head. i can tell i’m getting worse and i’m scared. i know, i know, i know, anxiety is a liar. i know that. but why can’t i get it through to myself? why can’t i put it through my head that my anxiety is completely lying to me? i still think i have OCD. I stick with thoughts in my head, i ruminate so so much, i try and find a solution & figure out why i’m thinking the way i am. and i get terrified and i can’t eat for days on end. i feel extremely guilty & scared from my intrusive thoughts. i scare myself into thinking that i have more mental illnesses than i actually do. this feels so painful. i’m in so much emotional distress.

[6236]

have you sought professional help? Sometimes you just can’t fight these battles without help. I have anxiety and severe depression and it took years for me to finally admit to myself that I needed help. If you do have a doctor then tell him in detail how you feel. You are the only one that can start the journey to getting better. God bless you, and always come back here when you need encouragement and support. There are a lot of great people on here that can offer you advice and support.

[augustine02 in reply to 6236]

i’ve been to the doctor for the past 6 years for my anxiety. psychiatrist & im in therapy. i just wanted to not feel so alone last night. i’m also on 2 medications.

[WaffleTime]

I’m so sorry you’re going through this, I hope you’re doing OK this past month. I struggled with trichotillomania from April till July of last year. I already have anxiety, but knowing and seeing how my hair pulling became out of control and was thinning, my hair caused more anxiety. And then I would turn to Hair pulling for comfort! It’s vicious cycle and I understand how hopeless and suffocating it feels. It’s never too late to do the hard hard work of stopping it, and you deserve to do it for yourself. I finally recovered from the addiction through therapy, an app called TrichStop. (One month was enough for me to break it) They gave me so many techniques that empowered and equipped me to stop. I can’t remember everything I learned, but I remember the first practice I did, was simply touching the areas I pulled most for 30 seconds at a time to weaken the association of pulling hair when you touch it. Another one is stimulus control- avoid places where you’re most likely to pull like the couch. Affirmations: “ my hair is beautiful, it belongs on my head, and it deserves to stay on my head”. When withdrawal urges came, I would feel whatever coarse hair I wanted to pull and say to myself “actually, I don’t need to do this. I’m choosing what’s good for me.” And lower your hand, and find something else to do with it . Just one time taking the power back is such a reward and you’ll want to do it again. Wishing you the best!