by Abigail Phillips

Created on: May 17, 2008

Trichotillomania, or "Trich" as it's more commonly known, is a disorder that involves obsessive pulling of hair. It is thought to affect 2-4% of the population, a far higher proportion than I ever imagined. My own form of Trich involves pulling at my hair, sometimes pulling it out from the root but just as often picking at it, scraping it between my nails until it begins to curl or to develop splits and then breaking it off mid way.

There is something enjoyable about it, a minor physical, sensory pleasure like the thrill of fresh air after being couped up inside a stuffy room. It can give me a sense of release and of being alive. However, it can just as often happen subconsciously being something I am only partially aware of while my mind is on other things.

I have suffered from Trich for all my adult life but was unable to put a name to it until earlier this year. From my mid-teens onwards it became a big problem though admittedly a sporadic one that would turn up from time to time. I would have a few months pull-free and then I would realise I was doing it again, or notice the effects and wonder when I had started.

No-one knows what causes it and the current debates about causes and cures can be confusing. There is even disagreement on how to describe and classify it. Trich is generally classed as an Impulse Control Disorder and can involve the pulling out of hair or eyebrows.

What is most interesting is that it is thought to be partly physical and partly mental being classed as an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and also as a Stereotypic Movement Disorder. It is often associated with nail biting and I admit I did suffer from nail biting quite badly as a child. This stopped when I was in my teens and it could be that it was replaced by the hair pulling.

Most commonly Trich involves the pulling out of scalp hair and I can identify with that. However, I do sometimes pull at the hair at the nape of my neck too which is the preferred location being hidden by the layers of hair above it. I am lucky in this respect in that my hair is naturally thick and I can hide the problem better than most. On my scalp is where the problem is most obvious.

Having established that we don't know for sure what Trich is, it can be difficult to try and work out what causes it. I have heard that it is due to stress but also that it is due to frustration, boredom and inactivity. Both would bear out my own experiences.

The only factors I can identify relating to periods of pulling are that it

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