Chronic Hair Pulling Essay - 2892 Words

It has been two months since Makahla Rivers has pulled out her hair. In fact, that’s the longest she’s gone without pulling out her hair since she was 12 years old, she said. Rivers, a 19-year-old from Harrisville, Rhode Island who works in a local restaurant, has struggled with the impulse control disorder known as trichotillomania, the urge to pull out one’s own hair. Trichotillomania, often referred to as trich or TTM, was first documented by the French dermatologist, Francois Henri Hallopeau over 100 years ago and derives from the Greek words, â€Å"trich† (hair), â€Å"tillo† (to pull) and â€Å"mania† (impulse). While extensive medical research on this disorder has only been conducted within the past twenty years, it is estimated that†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"I was like, ‘Oh my God, what did I do?’ I went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror and that’s when I saw my [hair] was gone and I was in a state of shock. I fell down on the bathroom floor and started to cry,† she said. While she has pulled hair from her arms, eyelashes and eyebrows, she has mainly pulled from her head. She would pull when she was watching television, was bored or tired, or when she was upset or depressed. She would even spend hours pulling in the bathroom. Pulling during sedentary activities such as watching television or reading and pulling during times of stress, anxiety or depression are the two general patterns of trich, according to the website, â€Å"Trichotillomania Learning Center† in October 2015. Anxiety, depression and other emotional problems like eating disorders and substance abuse can trigger pulling but can also result from pulling, said Dr. Nancy Keuthen, who has been the director of the Trichotillomania Clinic at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston for 15 years. â€Å"Someone who has pulled out their hair will not be thrilled with themselves,† she said. Because hair is a cultural mark of beauty, pullers will be concerned about social acceptance, said Keuthen. On the other hand, â€Å"pulling hair manages the anxiety they’re feeling.† The â€Å"Trichotillomania Learning Center† website reported that major depression may affect up to 50% of pullers while 30% may have simple phobia and generalized anxiety disorder, up toShow MoreRelatedTrichotillomania Onset Pregnancy699 Words   |  3 Pagesrecurrent episodes of hair pulling behavior leading to noticeable loss of hair, increasing tension before hair-pulling or while coping with the urge to pull out hair, taking pleasure or a sense of relief while pulling out hair, and social, occupational, and functional impairment1. Trichotillomania can involve any area in the body; however, the most common areas are the scalp, followed by the eyebrows and eyelashes in children and in adults2. The seriousness of the pulling behavior is perceived overRead MoreCommunication and Intersection between Human Mind and Skin914 Words   |  4 Pagesdermatologists confirmed to need for psychiatric consultation, especially when treating chronic diseases3. Trichotillomania or hair pulling disorder is classified in DSM IV as an impulse control disorder. It usually is described as having a compulsive urge to pull out or pick at one’s own hair. This compulsion will often lead to severe hair loss, resulting in social impairment. This disorder is often considered to be chronic . The peak onset of trichotillomania is between the ages of 9 and 13, however itRead MoreEssay On Hair Cells1309 Words   |  6 PagesHair cells are alive and must have an appropriate nutrition. Human beings have 100 to 150 thousand strands of hair; each one grows almost 13 cm (5 inches) in 5 to 6 years. When each strand dies, the period for regrowth lasts almost 4 months. Keratine is the main fibrous proteine of the hair made of amino acids such as sulfur containing cysteine and methionine. †¢ The disulfide bonds are abundantly present in curly hair as disulfide bonds. Perms and relaxing treatments take advantage of these disulfideRead MoreElderly Abuse And Domestic Violence918 Words   |  4 Pagesdecrease in the amount of hair due to hair pulling, and the elderly organ not working promptly due to internal injuries from physical force (5). Most victims were women age 60 and older who suffered elder mistreatment (mortality). For every case that was reported five went unreported (mortality). Research has found that mistreated vulnerable older adult had a three times greater mortality risk than their peers who were not mistreated (mortality). An elderly that have chronic disease can be vulnerableRead MoreThe, That Makes Your Hair Disappear1751 Words   |  8 Pages312.39: The â€Å"Trich† That Makes Your Hair Disappear Jennifer Raikes, the president of Trichotillomania Learning Center, recalls that, â€Å"The rhythm of running my fingers over my eyebrows is soothing. One half of my mind is attuned to the texture of each hair, the tickle against my thumb.† Very soon, she would feel that â€Å"... this hair feels out of place; it’s too thick, too coarse. I need to get it out.† This is the urge that has been haunting her since her childhood. As she entered her adulthoodRead MoreAnnotated Soap Note Hair Loss1745 Words   |  7 Pagescomplaint: hair loss that started several months ago. History of Present Illness This 45 year old female presents with: 1. Hair loss The patient presents with hair loss that began 5 months ago. The problem is mild to moderate and has worsened. The initial location of hair loss was the diffuse scalp and temporal region that occurred gradually. Symptoms are associated with very low carbohydrate dieting and new medication within 3 - 6 months (Aleve). Symptoms are not associated with hair pulling, increasedRead MoreEssay about self mutilation551 Words   |  3 Pagesthese types. There are also banging, binge eating, biting, branding, breaking of bones, bruising, carving, carving words or symbols into flesh, drinking, hitting, ingesting sharp objects, ingesting toxic substances, marking, picking, piercing, pulling hair, punching walls, scalding, scraping, scratching, scrubbing, self induced vomiting, smoking, starvation, tattooing, and wound interference. Cutting is just as it sounds. The teen will use a razor blade, knife, broken mirror or a piece of glass –Read MoreCorrelation Between Plasma And Saliva147 3 Words   |  6 PagesTOEFL d in some cases. Collection of multiple samples using his matrices may provide a rough composite index of â€Å"levels over time have her new these approaches provide a truly long term index of HP activity and the responsiveness of the systems to chronic stress. (Meyer et al 2014) Exchanging tired all and seasonal variations on the sibling protocols like history stage diet environmental exposure may influence go to court records measured in these media. These media reflect short term stress occurrenceRead MoreBusiness Management3832 Words   |  16 Pagescontrol disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 1987). Trichotillomania is currently defined in the DSM-IV TR (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2000) as the recurrent pulling out of one’s own hair resulting in noticeable hair loss, in which an individual experiences persistent tension prior to pulling out the hair or when attempts are made to resist the behavior. Once the behavior is occurring or has occurred, the individual may feel pleasure, gratification, or relief. For the disorder toRead MoreSelf Injurious Behavior ( Sib ) Essay1315 Words   |  6 Pagestends to be classified as a highly repetitive behavior, either occurring in bursts after long periods with problematic behavior, or under highly specific stimulus contexts (O’Reilly, 1997). The most common forms of self-injurious behavior include: hair pulling, self-choking, â€Å"head banging, hand biting, and excessive self-rubbing and scratching† (Edelson, n.d.; Iwata, Pace, Dorsey, Zarcone, 1994), [[NEED PAGE #]] and usually includes repetitive, self-inflicted, non-accidental injuries that often result