How to stop hair pulling? Treatment for Trichotillomania provides cure with a guarantee. Blog post by mental coach & trainer learning people how to cure hair picking and get their life back.
If you are interested to cure yourself from Trichotillomania, then I am just very glad you are reading this to set something straight.
Because a lot of people that suffer from Trichotillomania seem to have this burning question in the back of their minds that can sometimes holds them back for overcoming Trichotillomania and change their life for the better!
Clarifying Trichotillomania before any cure
But before getting into any cure, lets first clarify what Trichotillomania actually is, or more specifically, what does a person do who suffers from this kind of behavior?
Trichotillomania is a kind of behavior where the person involved regularly pulls out his / her own bodily hair and seems to have no option to do otherwise. The hair-pulling can happen consciously or unconsciously.
In the first instance, the person is actually aware of pulling out hair while doing it, in the second instance, he or she is not.
When it happens unconsciously, the person suffering from Trichotillomania is often in a kind of ´trance´ (can happen during daytime or while sleeping) and realizes only later that they did it again.
Often by seeing the hairs they have been pulling out. Or sometimes the persons is being ‘caught in the act’ by people closely surrounding them who are aware of the behavior.
Hairs can be pulled out from the scalp, eye lashes, eyebrows, or any other place at the body where hair grows. After the person has pulled out the hair, they can investigate it closer, play with it or sometimes eat it.
In due time, that act of eating hair (also called Trichophagia) can cause hair balls (also called Trichobezoars) in the stomach or the small intestine that – in extreme cases – will have to be removed through a surgical operation.
Hidden talents versus Trichotillomania cure
When you want to cure yourself from Trichotillomania, it’s good to know that the behavior already exists for a very long time and was first addressed in 1889 by the French dermatologist Francois Hallopeau.
The word itself is comprised from the Greek words ´hair´ (tricho) and pulling (tillo). The last word ´mania´ is defined as having an excessive and intensive interest or enthusiasm for something.
In many cases we find it wonderful when someone has a mania for something. Quite often we refer to this as an enormous amount of passion. In the German language they use the word ´Begeisterung´, which often has a very positive meaning. Just like the word passionate in English.
And the founding father of ´success management´ – Napoleon Hill – already discovered that one of the key characteristics of winners is the ability to create a burning desire for something. To want something with all of your might, to have a mania for something.
So when you currently suffer from the behavior of compulsively pulling out your hair, you apparently have a talent that can truly serve you in your life, which you probably have not learned to utilize more effectively.
The burning question that pops up regularly when people are looking for a cure for Trichotillomania!
When people who suffer from Trichotillomania actively start searching for a cure, most of them are still in the process of coming to terms with this behavior.
Because as soon as they discover for the first time that they compulsively pull out their hair and are unable to stop this on their own, they become frustrated and often feel ashamed.
Especially when other people in their close vicinity (with all good intentions) keep advising them to simply stop with it. And when that is something you truly want yourself as well but you don’t seem to succeed at it, the following question will soon come to mind: Why? Why do you do this and why do you continue doing it when you no longer want to?
Is something wrong with you because of this? The answer to this question is a definite no! You are very normal, but have just learned and installed an automatic behavioral process. Something we are all capable of as humans.
For the people behind Getting Better, overcoming Trichotillomania is quite similar to learning overcome other forms of compulsive behavior which are probably better known and more accepted in society.
Think for example of nail biting or smoking. There are many people who suffer from these kind of behaviors and want to stop with it, but often just keep doing it despite of their previous good intentions.
And when you tell other people that you smoke, everyone immediately understands what you mean. But when you tell people that you compulsively pull out your hair, many people will be quite astonished.
As if you are coming from Mars and suffer from a mad disease.
To cure yourself from Trichotillomania you have to unlearn something else first
In order to cure yourself from Trichotillomania, you have to unlearn something else first. Automatic behavioral responses that have nothing to do with contact but are simply triggered at an unconscious level (See also related blog post: How quickly can effective treatment for Trichotillomania be provided).
Because the remarkable thing is that we are all able of developing automatic behavioral processes and constantly do so. Our brain serves us with this, allowing us to function in society without having to think about everything all the time. Otherwise we would become completely insane.
In order to learn and install automatic behavioral processes we go through four different phases. Take the example when you learned to ride your bike.
In the beginning you had probably never heard of a bicycle before and had no desire to ride one. You were actually unconsciously incompetent. But then you might have seen someone else riding a bike or were encouraged by your parents to learn to ride one yourself.
So you bravely took your position on your first tricycle with training wheels. And with the loving support of your father, mother, brother, sister or anybody else you soon discovered that it was actually quite difficult to ride your bike at this stage.
You might have fallen off and realized in that moment that you did not master the skills yet to accomplish your goal. But at least that was something you were consciously aware of now. In other words, you were now consciously incompetent in something you wanted to master.
But you continued, the training wheels were removed from your tricycle one day and before you knew, mom or dad let go of you and you were riding your first meters on your own. Until you discovered that no one was holding on to you anymore and you hit the ground once more!
But soon you were able to ride the bike on your own. You now had reached the level of consciously competent. Because although you could ride your bike without the training wheels, you still had to concentrate otherwise you would fall occasionally.
But by riding a practicing a lot still you also went through this phase. You learned to ride your bike without the use of your hands, to stand on the pedals and who knows, even rode it back to front one day.
And so as your skills grew your reached a point where you were able to do all kinds of others things at the same time. Like (when you were older) making a phone call and greet someone you recognized as you passed that person on your bike.
Cycling had become a second nature for you. You had become very good at it. A kind of automatic process, without you having to consciously think about it any longer. In other words, you had reached the highest level and were now unconsciously competent.
And at this level, that automatic behavior served you. Allowing you to do more things at the same time and becoming more effective for yourself. Allowing you to function even better in society than in the previous phases.
And so you had (probable without realizing it) discovered through a simple process how we as humans are capable of learning and installing automatic behavioral processes that facilitate us to function at a higher level.
To be continued, but for now …..
With love & wishing you well – Rik
