Trichotillomania is a compulsive act, expressed in pulling out hair on the head or other parts of one’s own body.
Trichotillomania is predominantly found in babies with the wrong type of upbringing – demanding, tough, exceeding the likelihood of the baby, in the presence of emotional factors, also in families with antisocial behavior. In such cases, hair pulling is a protest reaction to a situation that is objectionable to the child.
In the adult state, trichotillomania is observed in women 2 times more often than in men.
The reasons
Initially, it was believed that trichotillomania occurs as a protective reaction to some kind of irritation in the head area (itching, pain, etc.). According to modern views, trichotillomania is considered as one of the manifestations of disorders, habits and drives, which also includes pathological drives for arson (pyromania), theft (kleptomania), gambling, etc.
The specific causes of such a pathological habit as trichotillomania or hair pulling have not been established. Only their external manifestations of this deviation are well known, and in some cases it is possible to find out the cause of occurrence, motivation and psychological meaning.
Symptoms
With trichotillomania, there are areas of hair thinning or baldness on the scalp, pubis, as well as eyebrows, eyelashes, located, as a rule, symmetrically. Areas of baldness can be single or multiple, the skin in these areas is normal, the mouths of the hair follicles are clearly marked. Usually patients do not fix attention on their actions or even deny them. Trichotillomania is a variant of Trichotillomania, the selective pulling out of gray hair when the scalp is itchy, which, according to sufferers, relieves the itching.
Treatment
Treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders (with a predominant violation of the motor-volitional sphere) is indicated – obsessive-compulsive disorder, vascular diseases of the brain (cerebral atherosclerosis), etc. Suggestion, hypnosis, and supervision of patients are effective. Children sometimes have their hair cut short or are advised to wear a hat.