Trichotillomania is a type of mental disorder in which there is a conscious or unconscious pulling of hair, eyelashes and eyebrows.
According to official figures, pathology manifests itself in approximately 2% of the population. Women experience hair-pulling disease most severely, while it is less common in men and children.
What manifestations look like
The obsessive condition, which patients try to resist, provokes the pulling of hairs from the eyelashes, eyebrows or scalp, after which calmness and chagrin over what happened come. Injured areas are hidden with the help of cosmetics, wigs and hats.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder manifests itself as compulsive actions that the patient is forced to perform in order to get rid of disturbing thoughts. This mental disorder does not necessarily involve hair pulling. The patient can repeatedlygoing back home to make sure I locked the door and turned off all the appliances, and the like. In childhood, trichotillomania can include biting nails, skin, self-mutilation, refusal of food.
Trichotillomania can be directed both at oneself and at others, pets, fleecy objects. Hair pulling occurs with fingers, tools (tweezers), bundles or one hair at a time.
About 90% of those suffering from trichotillomania try to fight the pathology, but it is not easy to cope with it on your own. Parents with trichotillomania in children should seek the help of a psychotherapist.
Types of diseases
According to one version, trichotillomania is not transmitted genetically and is not congenital. This is an acquired disease.
There are three types of trichotillomania in children and adults:
- Transient - a pathological tendency characterized by stress and strong feelings, based on recent shocks.
- Chronic - observed in those suffering from a personality disorder. Hair pulling also occurs during sleep.
- Episodic - seizures appear every time a stressful situation occurs.
Trichotillomania happens:
Concentrated - when the patient consciously prepares to pull out the hairs, armed with tweezers.
Automatic - when the patient is not aware of his actions. The consequences may remind of themselves later with baldness on the head, lack of vegetation in other areas.
Causes and symptoms
The causes of trichotillomania are injuries inflicted on patients in childhood. Pulling hairs from their eyebrows and eyelashes, they try to calm themselves. The disease has deep instinctive roots: trying to calm down, some types of pets, birds behave like this.
Similar symptoms are also observed in people with an unstable nervous system who did not have such a habit before. Being in an excited state, they are especially susceptible to incidents of various kinds, and find solace in their pathological tendency.
Trichotillomania is common in childhood. If it is observed in a child at the age of 2 years or a little older (up to 6 years), then by the beginning of puberty it may disappear on its own. Very rarely, pathology occurs in people after 20 years, and almost never after 40.
Among the causes of trichotillomania are the following:
- Stress, mental trauma.
- Depression.
- Instability of the nervous system.
- Schizophrenia.
- Bulimia.
- Tranio-cerebral injury.
- Hormonal disorders.
- Deficiency of serotonin, copper, iron in the body.
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
The prerequisites for psychological trauma and constant tantrums in a child can be: moving, change of team, divorce of parents, death of a loved one, the beginning of an independent life.
Trichotillomania eyelashes
Frequent pulling of hair from the eyebrows is complemented by thinning of the beard, vegetation inchest area, armpits. The consequence of eyelash removal is aesthetic discomfort and partial baldness. The look looks painful. Due to the constant injury of the hair follicles and skin, eyelash growth is impaired, the eyelids and mucous membranes of the eyes may have an inflamed appearance.
Microtraumas are dangerous visual impairment. Trichotillomania of eyelashes is accompanied by conjunctivitis, blepharitis, barley, eyelid furunculosis and other diseases occurring due to traumatic effects and penetration of infections into wounds.
Diagnosis
A person suffering from trichotillomania carefully hides the signs of the disease, but it is desirable to identify it at an early stage. The specialist collects facts for an objective assessment of the patient's condition, establishing the time of development of the disease, the characteristics of its course, involving the patient's relatives in the survey.
If it is not possible to establish a provoking etiological factor, laboratory and instrumental procedures of the following types are carried out:
- Hormonal tests.
- Blood test.
- X-ray.
- Genetic tests.
- Skull ultrasound.
- CT and MRI.
The final diagnosis is supplemented by a trichogram - an analysis of hair roots under a microscope. When observing trichotillomania in children, parents should seek help from a specialist.
Therapy Methods
Medical treatment for trichotillomania in children involves psychotherapy and antidepressants combined with other methods to help improvewell-being. A child's psychiatrist should take care of the child's he alth.
The following methods of influence are also used:
- X-rays of the spinal cord.
- Paraffin treatment.
- Cryotherapy.
- Hypnosis.
To get rid of the consequences of trichotillomania, special hormonal ointments and other means are used.
Medicines
Selective inhibitors ("Fluoxetine") that increase the concentration of endorphin serotonin in the body, improve mood, eliminate discomfort caused by affected hairline.
Tricyclic antidepressants affect norepinephrine, dopamine. The proven drug "Anafril" is effective.
The persistent course of the disorder is the reason for the use of nootropic, psychotropic drugs ("Noofen", "Adaptol"). Homeopathic anti-homotoxic drugs are effective: Nervochel, Hepel, Gepar compositum, Psorinoheel, Valerianahel and others.
It should be noted that treatment with drugs gives poor results, since most often trichotillomania is an acquired disease due to an unhe althy psychological atmosphere in the family.
Psychotherapy
In the treatment of such a disease, there is no special therapy, since the real origins of the origin of trichotillomania are not known. For a successful outcome, the help of a psychotherapist and the patient's perseverance will be required.
Means of mental influence are aimed at training resistance to stress. Patients usually have low self-esteem. Accepting yourself for who you are helps fight the manifestations of trichotillomania.
Types of therapy:
- Games. Treatment takes place in the form of a game, in which the patient is not limited by formalities and easily expresses his inner feelings. The patient is freed from internal tension, the constant tantrums in the child disappear along with the habit of tearing hair. Play therapy is useful if it helps to distract from disturbing thoughts.
- Hypnosis. The treatment is carried out by an experienced specialist. His task is to introduce into the mind of the patient the idea of severe pain when pulling out the hair. Thus, a ban on a bad habit is established.
- Behavioral therapy - is to develop a new habit in the patient when feeling anxious and wanting to tear his hair. The child should clench the hand into a fist, raise the forearm, and so on. The effectiveness of therapy is high, as evidenced by numerous reviews.
Artificial limitation
Suffering from trichotillomania, it is recommended to find a way to relax in order to move away from obsessive thoughts. Playing sports, going to the theater, hobbies help. Adults are able to help their child in overcoming the disease. It is necessary to talk about the feelings of a baby or teenager, resort to soothing methods in the form of beading, designing, drawing.
If it is possible to track the moments at which the pulling occurshair, artificial methods should be used to limit manifestations, which will bring closer to the awareness of actions. Wearing visors, headbands, hairpins will be helpful, which will stop the urge to pull out the hair before the action is realized.
More radical methods are also suitable: shaving the head; sticking artificial eyelashes. Moving and changing environments that have a negative impact on the child can also be helpful.
Features of trichotillomania in children
The disease is severe in children with weak nervous system, unstable mental defense mechanisms. The symptoms are quite pronounced: the child tears the hair on his head, which harms himself.
Against the background of prolonged depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder is not excluded, the cause of which is schizophrenia and other pathologies. The complexity of diagnosing lies in the fact that the symptoms are perceived as the usual capriciousness of the child. Often this problem occurs in a child under 6 years old.
As the body changes during growth, hormones and mental attitudes are affected.
Children with low self-esteem are harder to deal with intrusive thoughts. The patient is aggressive, depressed, suffers from increased excitability, withdraws into himself. Eaten hair causes digestive problems. Low stress resistance does not allow the child to cope with the pathology without professional help.
Psycho-emotional state depends onmoral and material conditions in which the child's self-esteem is formed, which largely depends on the parents. Children who are punished get used to violence. If a child at the age of 2 harms himself, the wrong upbringing and moral pressure affects.
Physiological causes of the disorder:
- Serotonin deficiency.
- Hormonal changes.
- Morphological transformations of the brain.
- Medication allergy.
Treatment includes the work of a psychologist, an analysis of the patient's living conditions, as well as exercises to form new personal attitudes and eliminate physiological causes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps the patient to recognize the incorrectness of their own life-destroying behavior.
Unconventional methods
Garlic oil is an effective home treatment for trichotillomania in children. It should be taken in a teaspoon three times a day for three months.
A mixture of lemon peel and 12 apricot kernels will have a good effect. These ingredients are ground, mixed and consumed in 1 tsp. three times a day. you can add honey to the mixture to taste.
Remedy of lemon juice, cognac (teaspoon) and chopped head of garlic, which must be poured over a glass of sunflower oil. Let the remedy brew for a week. then it can be taken in 1 tsp. three times a day.
Auxiliary means are decoctions of mint, lemon balm, oregano, chamomile, valerian. They are brewed. But it should be borne in mind that the treatment of folk remediesineffective, it is useful only in conjunction with the main methods.
Recommended Meals
Foods should be chosen with a lot of vitamins A and C. These are beef liver, eggs, milk, carrots, pumpkin, spinach, peach, apricot, tomato, sweet pepper, yellow-red berries.
Magnesium is also needed to compensate for micronutrient deficiencies. You can get it from foods such as avocados, rice bran, cereals, beans, any green leafy vegetables.
Medications are shown only in the advanced form of a mental disorder. Physical punishment is contraindicated. The main emphasis is on collective, game, individual psychotherapy. In the process of maturation of the child, the main role is played by the home atmosphere, attention and care that adults can provide.
