GUEST POST: Parenting a child with Trich
This is a guest post submitted by a mom of a child with trichotillomania.
PARENTING A CHILD WITH TRICH
By Sarah
Trichotillomania Blog
Avoidance Behaviors in Hair-Pulling Disorder
What would you do to prevent people from staring at you because of a disability or disfigurement? Would you put yourself in situations where people could ask you why you are the way you are? How comfortable would you feel being put on the spot?
Dealing with questions about skin picking!
People with trichotillomania deal with these questions all the time. Will people stare? Will they ask questions? What will I say if they do? Trichotillomania is a mental health disorder where people compulsively pull out their hair. The most frequent locations are the scalp, eyebrows, and eyelashes, so someone may not have any eyelashes or eyebrows. They may have strange bald spots on the scalp, areas where hair won’t grow anymore, or areas where hair grows back, and it looks different from the rest.
Mindful Running for People with Compulsive Hair Pulling Disorder
Mindful running serves multiple purposes for people with compulsive hair pulling disorder. First, as an aerobic physical exercise, running keeps stress low and anxiety at bay. Second, running is a full-body activity. And third, it helps develop mindfulness skills for use at other times.
Reduce Triggers
Exercise benefits everyone. Research shows it positively impacts stress, anxiety, memory, sleep, mood, and self-esteem. For people with compulsive hair pulling, anxiety and stress can act as triggers for pulling behaviors which instigates the cycle of shame and embarrassment as a result of pulling. A lot of time goes into pulling with a lot more going into taking care of oneself afterward. Consider exercise as a way to reduce stress and feel better.
Habitaware Keen Review
This is the second post in our series of reviews of BFRB tracking & monitoring devices (you can read the perevious post here)
Some background about the company
We’ve been following HabitAware since its inception in early 2016. This company was founded by Aneela (herself affected by trichotillomania) and her husband. In an attempt to help Aneela’s personal case they came up with an idea for a device that will track the hand’s movement and will alert the user with a light vibration once a problematic movement is identified. And so the idea for Keen was born.
We’ve been eager to test it ever since they started shipping early this year, and finally we got our hands on a Keen device. We put it to everyday use, and here are our impressions.
New study looks at inositol for trichotillomania treatment
A recent study evaluated the effectiveness of inositol in reducing pulling behaviors in people with trichotillomania. While there is no definitive medication for managing trichotillomania, there are some that can help with aspects, of the condition such as stabilizing mood that end up reducing the severity of symptoms.
New Research - Do styles of family functioning impact the hair pulling behaviors of adolescents?
Researchers try to understand factors that contribute to body-focused repetitive behaviors like pulling hair to develop more effective treatment strategies. Because many people pull due to urges or compulsions that increase with anxiety and stress, one question was whether family functioning styles impact hair pulling behaviors for teens.
Trichotillomania: Will internet-based treatment help if you’ve been in therapy before?
The short answer is yes. For a variety of reasons, many people with trichotillomania do not get treatment. Those who do sometimes have negative experiences which causes them to stop treatment. Internet-based therapy and support is a promising way to reach those people with trichotillomania who do not have access to face to face therapy or who do not feel comfortable sharing their experiences face to face. A recent study showed that no matter the symptom severity or treatment history internet-based treatment is still effective.
Research: Genetic Predisposition for Trichotillomania
The Institute for Genomic Health (IGH) at SUNY Downstate Medical Center is conducting research on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and other related disorders (Hoarding Disorder, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Hair Pulling disorder/Trichotillomania and Skin Picking Disorder/Excoriation Disorder. We've been asked to publish the following info about this reseach to help recruit participants for the study. Here're the details:
Current research has indicated that some people are more likely to develop this disorder than others. We at Downstate, along with other collaborating research sites are working towards identifying the genes associated with this disorder in the hopes of contributing to the development of better, more effective treatments.
Our study is NIMH-funded and approved by Downstate Medical Center, study ID # 759153.
Participation for patients is one-time only. It includes:
Trichotillomania: the impact of treatment history on the outcome of an Internet-based intervention
Seeking treatment for Trichotillomania
The decision to get treatment for trichotillomania is a difficult one. One of the biggest barriers is embarrassment and shame followed closely by not recognizing that symptoms are treatable and not knowing where to go for treatment. Therefore, less than 50% of those with a hair pulling disorder get treatment and sometimes it takes up to 9 years after hair pulling starts to get treatment. Rates of co-occurring depression tend to increase as treatment is delayed (2).
Emotional Freedom Technique
The mind and the body are connected and therapeutic modalities such as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) or “body tapping” address the cognitive and the biological. The methods of action remain unknown, but published research shows it can be effective for mental health issues.
What is EFT?
EFT combines psychotherapeutic methods of cognitive therapy and exposure therapy with the biological method of acupressure. Cognitive therapy focuses on how we see the world, our thoughts about the world, and how those thoughts influence emotions and behaviors. It is one of the most-used methods of therapy for many disorders. Exposure therapy is based on the idea that small, incremental exposures to traumatic thoughts, feelings, or events, combined with relaxation, can help desensitize someone to the effects of traumatic thoughts, feelings, or events. Exposure therapy is most often used with people who have phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder.
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