Trichotillomania (Hair Pulling) Support Group

I was actually wondering the same thing earlier today. Well I have major depression and bi-polar. There are times whereI suffer from panic attacks. It' not an everyday thing though. Also some OCD things. I also have an eating diorder which is taking over my life. So yes, I definitely have other issues.

I have anxiety. Doesn't require treatment, but is very uncomfortable from time to time. Very much a worrier.

I was seeing a counselor who told me that trich was really a symptom of other disorders and diagnosed me with GAD (generalized anxiety disorder) and insomnia. I tend to disagree with the idea of trich as a symptom, but anxiety definitely seems to be part of the pull cycle. It also realtes to a lot of comorbid behaviors like skin picking and nail biting.

Yess I do agree that Trich comes with many other disorders. I suffer sometimes from panic attack. Another thing that I noticed, since I stopped biting my nails my trich increases. I think that all comes from stress and anxiety that our body translate it to hair pulling .

I also don't agree that Trich is a symptom. I think in manifests as an effect of so much anxiety and stress that you have no other way to process it. Then after doing it for so long it becomes ritualistic and habitual, throwing it into the ICD category.

More than likely you'll find that the majority of trichsters suffer from some sort of anxiety related or depressive disorder. I also believe that Trich can also cause what my therapist calls situational disorders. Things that you wouldn't normally suffer from if you didn't have to deal with Trich.

I just got officially evaluated because of having to go on disability and this is my list:

Major Depressive Disorder
Trichotillomania
OCD
Social Phobia
GAD

According to my therapist she believes that the OCD, Social Phobia, and GAD are situational due to my Trich. Who knows though. Just throwing my 2 cents out there :)

First off there are a lot of Dr's that aren't up on Trich. My therapist is used to dealing with anxiety issues but had never heard of Trich. I took in info and she then looked up more so we could work together.

check out this link:

http://dailystrength.org/c/Trichot...

It give facts about Trich. You can print it out to take with you.

Blu - That's kinda like asking. What came first, the chicken or the egg? Also how do they explain that small children (as young as 2) can have Trich but not the other "issues".

Hmmm, I suppose there's two ways of looking at this thing. I know that when I'm dealing with anxiety I tend to pull more however; I have a hard time completely buying into it being a "symptom", rather than a disorder all it's own. I do have to agree that trich can cause other issues such as social anxiety, due to the embarassment.

Right on Crzy. Guess I hadn't thought of that because I really haven't heard alot about children developing trich at that young of an age. Most of what you hear about is people starting when they're pre-teens or teens.