Trichotillomania (TTM) or "trich" is an impulse control disorder characterised by the repeated urge to pull out scalp hair, eyelashes, beard hair, nose hair, pubic hair, eyebrows o...
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Our brain
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I had listed a post awhile back on a book I've read by Daniel Amen called Change Your Brain, Change Your Life. It is really good...I strongly suggest it! It talks about how much our brain chemistry affects our moods, desires, and obcessions.
This past week, PBS had a similar program on the brain and I took some notes. Here are some key points that impressed me: * They were talking about things that work for quieting OCD compulsions. And although we don't have OCD....(ours is ICD/impulse control) I believe there are similarities. When a person was going 'crazy' wanting to go check to see that the stove was turned off, for example, and they KNEW that they had turned it off, but the compulsion was still there, this study had the person tell themselves, "It's not real. It's only my brain talking!!! This seemed to be an effective way of re-training their brain and they were able to stop the compulsion!!! * Our thoughts have a measureable effect on our brains....therefore when we think positive things, it LITERALLY changes our brain chemistry for the better. The opposite is also true for negative thoughts. * In order to pursue change, you need to pay attention to the things you want to change. For example, for those of us who 'zone' when we pull unconsciously, by working at it and focusing our attention on what we are doing at each moment, we LITERALLY increase the number of neurons in our brain!! This enables us to zone out less and take decisive action! * Push yourself cognitively every day. Stretch your learning. Acquire new skills. * You can literally create more brain power and therefore more control over behavior by: a) Cardio exercise b) Incremental increase in learning c) Reaching for a barely attainable goal and then when you reach it, setting it higher each time. d) Make what you are doing interesting to you!! I think these ideas hold some promise for us....especially the one about telling ourselves, 'That is just my brain talking. It's a lie. It's not true.' I wonder if that will help us when we are telling ourselves we want to pull??? It's worth a try, I think! Posted on 09/25/08, 09:09 pm |
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I watched part of that program too and found it very interesting.
I have long wondered about the brain and what exactly is going on within it when a trich sufferer is pulling. I wonder if any researchers have ever done scans or EEG monitoring on the brains of trich sufferers. Do we somehow use trich as a way to slow down our brain from Beta frequency(13-40 electrical oscillations per second) to Alpha frequency (8-13 electrical oscillations per second)??? This might explain why we want to pull when we are stressed and why it helps us calm down. There are ways to train the brain to 'lower gear' such as mediatation or bio-feeback. These are proven ways to slow down cycling and I wonder if pulling is just a way we have learned to do this....a natual sort of 'bio-feedback' that we stumbled upon and use because it calms us. Has anyone else every looking into this theory, or have any experience with some of the modern 'biofeedback therapies' that have been developed in recent years? For more of a background on the brain wave speeds (in case youre wondering what the heck Im talking about) here an article that explains it fairly well http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/ca... ...just my thoughts, one of my theories on trich 
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what about when those fine eyelashes start to come in and itch so unbearably. How do we resist this urge because it is actually a real sensation and not imaginary?
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in response to rickyfoofoo...it appears there are different reasons that we pull for at different times....
examples .....stop itchie/soreness of poky new lashes ..... try to `fix`the damage and make it look even, better, ect .....hunting for a fat one .but those are pretty 'conscious', and deliberate......but I sense there is another 'kind' of pulling that occurs sometimes, the kind where you are feeling really stressed out..and then just start pulling and pulling and pulling....for hours sometimes...no mirror, no thought....just that 'tranced out' feeling that some of the other posters have mentioned on these threads
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Ricky, regarding the itch of trich, yes, that is very real and there are theories about it being an allergic reaction to a naturally occuring yeast on our skin. Hair care products that reduce that yeast seem to bring partial relief and that's a start.
There is also some research being done on amputees who experience 'phantom pain'. Docs used to think it was 'all in their heads'. Now they are learning that it is really the brain sending incorrect signals and LYING to them that their hand is still attached and is in pain....that was kinda where I was going with this. That and if OCD people can get relief by telling themselves that the brain is lying to them about needing to wash their hand incessantly, perhaps we can get relief by reminding ourselves that OUR brain is lying to us when it tells us that pulling our hair is the thing to do for relief, be it from stress, itching, boredom, nervous energy, whatever!! It's certainly worth a try!!
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Knitting,
your last post was brilliant and I absolutely agree. As you know I stopped puling for 6 months and now am having trouble again. I've been trying desperately to find out what is missing for me now, that I had back then. Your absolutely right- back when I quit I finaly realized that I didnt need to pull, that it was something I wanted to do/that my brain was telling me to do and that I was also able to stop and resist it. Since I;ve slipped I've gone back to my old thinking that the urges are so strong that I cant resist them. Thanks so much for helping make this important link.
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Darby, thanks. I just LOVE the way we can encourage each other on this site!!! Awesome!
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Wow Knitting that is fascinating! I'm going to try to find that on hulu.com or the PBS web site, thanks for sharing. It's scary in a way -- I feel like I could have expanded my brain power so much more when I was young if I didn't slack off so much in school! But its encouraging at the same time because it means there's hope for change in the future...I think I[m going to try to talk my brain out of thinking I need to pull, just like the OCD guy turning off the stove...
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I just wanted to clear up something. Trich is not an OCD. Many Dr.'s are still not educated about it. I for one …
An experiment that has helped a girl with some recent success is to read this once a day for 2 months. GOOD …
I found a video on another site about our brains and how our brains are impacted by what we do, and how our brains …
