Trichotillomania or "trich" is a disorder on the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Spectrum and is portrayed by the overwhelming desire to pull out one's hair and is normally persistent and hard to treat. This usually leads to hair loss or baldness (contingent upon the affected area of pulling), pain and in many cases, functional or social isolation. Epidemiologic studies for trichotillomania have been sorely lacking in the field of scientific research, but there is a growing recognition of the need for prevalence studies to understand how often trichotillomania occurs in different groups of people and why.

Anu Elizabeth Roche is a Mumbai based poet, mother, wife, and member of spoken word poetry band Mental Heads who suffers from trichotillomania. Anu Elizabeth’s poem titled “Hair” was recently discovered by “Mind of India” and has gone viral since.  Her motivations behind writing the poem were simple, she wanted to raise awareness of the compulsive hair pulling disorder.

I want to destroy the silence and ignorance surrounding this condition, and spreading awareness is a viable solution”.

Trichotillomania is classified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 5th Edition (DSM5) as a Body-Focussed Repetitive Behaviour (BFRB), within the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Spectrum. This suggests that while the behaviours of compulsive hair pulling are related to OCD, it is not an OCD in itself, but is better defined with similar conditions in its own category. BFRBs are characterized by repetitive, direct body-to-body contact, which unintentionally causes physical harm to the body. While the urge to engage in these behaviours are defined as compulsions, some have described the inability to stop picking and the irresistable nature of the urge to be similar to addiction. An estimated 25% of people suffering from a BFRB are also addicts.