What Is Trichotillomania?

Obsessive-Compulsive disorder is a type of severe anxiety disorder that impacts an individual’s entire life and way of functioning. Obsessions are considered intrusive and recurrent thoughts or impulses that cannot be removed through reasoning. Compulsions are the repetitive and ritualistic behaviors and actions that associate with the obsessions. These compulsions are to be performed according to specific rules or methods and are thought to prevent or reduce stress and feared situations. Both compulsions and obsessions cause disabling levels of anxiety. The individual affected is often able to recognize the behavior as excessive and irrational, but is unable to control or stop the behaviors without intervention.

What is OCD? OCD stands for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a psychological disorder that makes an individual have a great deal of anxiety due to unwanted thoughts. The individual will try to reduce it by engaging in repetitive behaviors or compulsions. OCD is a part of an individual’s everyday life, so it is natural to have some obsessive thoughts. However, when it interferes with your every day lifestyle, then the individual knows that it’s a disorder. An example of the most common OCD that someone may encounter are contamination, accidental harm to others, perfection when it comes to washing, cleaning, or arrangement of things. Obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms can change over time. It is most common

In Tina behaviors, it indicated that she has anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD). OCD has 2 parts, obsession and compulsions. Obsessions are thoughts, impulses, or images that persist and recur, so that they cannot be dismissed from the mind even though the individual attempts to do so (Halter & Vacarolis, 2014). With Tina, she has an obsession of negative and harmful thoughts would come to her daughter even thought she knows it is irrational but she cannot get those thoughts out of her head. Compulsions are ritualistic behaviors an individual feels driven to perform in an attempt to reduce anxiety or prevent an imagined calamity. Performing the compulsive can only reduce the anxiety only temporarlity, which makes patient with

Considering the secrecy surrounding OCD symptoms, it is important for family members to pay attention to early signs of ritualistic behaviors becoming troublesome. When OCD is suspected, a comprehensive clinical evaluation – including detailed interviews with parents and, if possible teachers – is required in order to check the obsessions, sensory phenomenon and compulsions in the case. In younger children, OCD features might appear subtly during play activities or drawing. It is vital to differentiate between obsessive compulsive symptoms and normal childhood behavior, such as the normal practice or actions during playtime, food time or bedtime. In this context, the information about degree of distress, impairment and time consumed performing rituals should provide enough data to decide whether or not treatment is warranted. Moreover, it is also important to assess insight and the family’s perception of the symptoms, as well as how family members deal with the patient.

One afternoon in college, I noticed my friend had cut his hair extremely close and there was a small bald spot near his widow’s peak. I asked about the haircut, and he said with no hesitation, “I have trichotillomania.” He said it in such a way that I should have known exactly what he was talking about. “Tricha-what?” I asked. “Trichotillomania. I pull my hair out.” I remember thinking that this was a really odd bad habit. Flash forward eight years and I find myself with an autistic student plagued by trichotillomania in my classroom. For my friend in college, it was just a weird habit that gave him a slight bald patch. For my student and his classmates, it is a noxious classroom disruption.

The anxiety (nervousness) of this disorder causes the individual to feel the urgent need to perform certain routines or rituals (compulsion) (Chakraburtty, 2009). For example, a person who has an unreasonable germ fear constantly washes their hands (Chakraburtty, 2009). The rituals are performed in an attempt to prevent or make the obsessive thoughts go away (Chakraburtty, 2009). The rituals that are performed are temporarily the person will perform the rituals again once his or her obsessive thoughts return (Chakraburtty, 2009).

Relevant history; Rosalinda Brewer is a thirty-year-old women had been pulling out her hair for nearly fifteen years. She isn’t sure how it started or why she pulls her hair but it’s become a bad habit. Rosalinda’s presenting problem is hair pulling. Her diagnosis seems to be an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) specifically trichotillomania which is the urge to pull one’s own hair from anywhere on the body including the scalp. Rosalinda’s symptoms are feeling relief of tension after pulling her own hair which causing her to have bald spots. Treatments that could help Rosalinda with her hair pulling disorder are habit reversal training and serotonin reuptake inhibitor medication. The habit reversal training would help Rosalinda be more aware

There are many causes that lead up to developing as well as several effects that occur during and after the development of the hair pulling disorder that is known as trichotillomania. More people are being diagnosed and treated properly due to the attention trichotillomania has gained due to social media. As the hair pulling disorder becomes more publicized and gains more attention, ways to prevent trichotillomania from developing in people as well as several treatments to help people that already have trichotillomania are being

"OCD patients have a pattern of distressing and senseless thoughts or ideas- obsessions- that repeatedly well up in their minds. To quell the distressing thoughts, specific patterns of odd behaviors- compulsions- develop." (Gee & Telew, 1999)

I pull my hair on the right side of my head by my bangs, that is why they are so short. I use tweezers that I keep by my bed in my room, I also go in front of a mirror to pull. It usually takes up to forty minutes. When I pull my hair it is due to stress because of my anxiety and OCD. It feels like I have an infected hair so I start itching where it is on my head because it is itchy, then I start pulling. My mind thinks my scalp is is itchy even though it is not and it feels like it is. I was born with this disorder, my parents say when I was three or four I was completely bald on the right side of my head. When I interviewed my dad this is what he told me” Your mom would read about Trichotillomania to understand it better. The books advised tying socks to your hands and putting a hat on your head while you slept”, ( Walkup, Shane. 11, Dec 2015). I usually pull my hair before I go to bed, while I’m watching T.V, or when I’m bored. I have tried stopping by telling myself “ Just go one day without pulling. You can do it”. I never do because of my anxiety. I’ve also tried to clean my room or workout to keep pulling out of my mind. Sometimes I don’t even notice until I start thinking about it and realize what I am doing, so I sit on my hands to try not to pull my hair. It is hard some days and easier the next, but I still try to stop

Obsessive compulsion disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder described by irrational thoughts and fears (obsessions) that lead you to do repetitive tasks (compulsions) (Obsessive Compulsion Disorder, 2013). When a person has obsessive-compulsive disorder, they may realize that their obsessions aren't accurate, and they may try to overlook them but that only increases their suffering and worry. Eventually, you feel driven to perform compulsive acts to ease your stressful feelings. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is often driven by a reason, cause, or fear for example, a fear of germs. To calm the feeling of this fear, a person may compulsively wash their hands until they're sore and chapped. Despite their efforts, thoughts of obsessive-compulsive behavior keep coming back. This leads to more ritualistic behavior and a brutal cycle of obsessive-compulsive disorder. OCD is the fourth most common mental disorder, and is diagnosed nearly as often as asthma and diabetes (Who We Are, 2012). In the United States, one in 50 adults suffers from OCD. Obsessive compulsive disorder affects children, adolescents, and adults. About one third to one half of adults with OCD report a childhood onset of the disorder, they felt these anxieties but were not diagnosed or felt no need to be diagnosed until the compulsions over whelmed them (Who We Are, 2012). The phrase obsessive compulsive has been used to describe excessively meticulous, perfectionistic, absorbed, or otherwise fixated person. While

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a disorder that causes someone to have unwanted and troubling thoughts and repetitive behaviors (Lack, 2012). People may self-diagnose themselves to be obsessive compulsive. But people with obsessive compulsive disorder need to spend at least 1 hour daily on obsessive thoughts and rituals (Ellyson, 2014). This disorder is broken into two parts. The first part is obsessions, thoughts or images, and the second part is compulsions, the repetitive behaviors caused by the obsessions (Brakoulias, 2015). An example of obsessive compulsive disorder would be someone checking the locked door multiple times to reduce anxiety about forgetting to lock the door. On average 5% of the population has subclinical symptoms which are considered to be symptoms that are not disruptive enough to meet criteria to be diagnosed obsessive compulsive (Lack, 2012). Dropping what you’re doing to go back and check if your curling iron is unplugged is an example of a subclinical symptom. This paper will discuss what obsessive compulsive disorder is and provide a brief history. It will also include current treatments, suggestions on how to treat the disorder, and a summary.

B. An increasing sense of tension immediately before pulling out the hair or when attempting to resist the behavior.

Pyromania is a mental illness that can affect you and people around you. According to an encyclopedia of mental disorders produced by Advameg Inc., pyromania is defined as setting multiple fires on purpose for your own pleasure without regard to others’ safety. The male gender is the most affected by this

In a general view, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is associated with obsessions and compulsions. The obsessions are recurrent thoughts, fears, images, ideas, urges, and doubts. Patients suffering from this disorder often go through fluctuating episodes of compulsion which are in response to an obsessive thought, such as arranging, touching, repeatedly checking on something, and recurrent hand-washing. The patient experiences repeated rise in anxiety from the obsessions, that compels them to indulge in their compulsions as a form of relief (Brown University, 2013). Most of the patients suffering