Trichotillomania, also known as hair-pulling (HPD), is a condition that involves pulling at, “messing with,” yanking out, and/or over-plucking (i.e. eyebrows, genital hair, and hair on your arms and legs, and under your armpits) your hair. This behavior not only affects your appearance, but also your self-esteem, sense of self, mood, and quality of life.

In this month’s TrichStop.com webinar with Dr. Vladimir Miletic, he talks about meaning and how meaning applies to therapy for compulsive hair pulling from the perspectives of George Kelly and Paul Watzlawick. In addition to talking about meaning, he describes the therapeutic process by describing his work with a TrichStop.com client. The full webinar is available on YouTube.

Every Person is a Scientist

Dr. Miletic’s discussion on meaning highlighted the work of George Kelly. For those unfamiliar with Kelly, he expanded on Freud’s approach to mental health by changing the premise. Freud’s psychoanalytic approach included a therapist interpreting what was going on with a client in an authoritative manner. However, how would a therapist know what a client experiences? There are myriad influences on a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and there is no way for a therapist to know enough about this to be an accurate interpreter.

Everyone has a different experience with trichotillomania, and everyone has a different pathway to recovery. Some people do well by training themselves out of behavior patterns, while others require a new perspective. One person, who struggles with trich asked the question, “How would you feel if you were made to pull out someone else’s hair?”

The following are some excerpts from Latent Expressions by Incognito.

“Think about it rationally. How would you feel if you were made to pull out someone else’s hair? Would you like it? Would you feel pleasure in that? Imagine someone close to you. Your loved one – partner, spouse, parent, child – anyone who is close to you. Can you pull out their hair to feel better? You cannot.”

“…you cannot pull out someone else’s hair. Because you know it will be painful for them. Also, you won’t feel that pleasure that you feel when you pull out your hair. That’s precisely the problem then, I guess. I feel pleasure in something that I should feel pain in.”