The Hair Pulling Problem

Trichotillomania, one of the family of obsessive-compulsive disorders, may afflict as many as 6 to 8 million people in the United States. Now, a leading authority on obsessive-compulsive disorders, Dr. Fred Penzel, has written the most up-to-date, comprehensive, and authoritative guide to this syndrome available, filled with reassuring advice for patients and their families. Endorsed by the Trichotillomania Learning Center, the leading advocate group for this disorder, this superb handbook includes all the information a patient or relative would need to understand this illness and to cope with it. Penzel provides a detailed discussion of causes and he reviews all the treatment options, describing the most effective medications and their side effects as well as the recommended cognitive and behavioral treatments. He shows patients how to design a self-help program and gain control of their compulsive behavior, how to prevent relapse, describes trichotillomania and its treatment in children, and suggests coping strategies for families at home and in public situations. He also provides a guide to all the resources available, including internet sites, recommended books, and videos, and outlines ways to start a support group. The appendix will include questionnaires, clinical rating scales, and the official DSM diagnostic criteria for the disorder, so readers can decide if they need to seek behavioral and possibly medical treatment. Dr. Penzel has helped patients with OCD and trichotillomania for over twenty years and is one of America's leading authorities on these disorders. Drawing on decades of hands-on experience, he has produced the most complete and scientifically accurate handbook available on this disorder, a comforting guide packed with information to help people with trichotillomania get well and stay well.

There is still scant clinical information on trichotillomania. This book fills the need for a full-length cognitive-behavioral treatment manual. The authors share their considerable expertise in treating body-focused repetitive behavior disorders (not only hair-pulling but skin-picking and nail-biting as well) in an accessible, clinically valid reference. This is the first comprehensive, clinical, and empirically-based volume to address these disorders.

Trichotillomania, one of the family of obsessive-compulsive disorders, may afflict as many as 6 to 8 million people in the United States. Now, a leading authority on obsessive-compulsive disorders, Dr. Fred Penzel, has written the most up-to-date, comprehensive, and authoritative guide to this syndrome available, filled with reassuring advice for patients and their families. Endorsed by the Trichotillomania Learning Center, the leading advocate group for this disorder, this superb handbook includes all the information a patient or relative would need to understand this illness and to cope with it. Penzel provides a detailed discussion of causes and he reviews all the treatment options, describing the most effective medications and their side effects as well as the recommended cognitive and behavioral treatments. He shows patients how to design a self-help program and gain control of their compulsive behavior, how to prevent relapse, describes trichotillomania and its treatment in children, and suggests coping strategies for families at home and in public situations. He also provides a guide to all the resources available, including internet sites, recommended books, and videos, and outlines ways to start a support group. The appendix will include questionnaires, clinical rating scales, and the official DSM diagnostic criteria for the disorder, so readers can decide if they need to seek behavioral and possibly medical treatment. Dr. Penzel has helped patients with OCD and trichotillomania for over twenty years and is one of America's leading authorities on these disorders. Drawing on decades of hands-on experience, he has produced the most complete and scientifically accurate handbook available on this disorder, a comforting guide packed with information to help people with trichotillomania get well and stay well.

A Parent Guide to Hair Pulling Disorder: Effective Parenting Strategies for Children (formerly, "Stay Out of My Hair") with Trichotillomania is a guide for parents of children with compulsive hair pulling, or trichotillomania, that explains the nature and causes of the problem and methods for treatment and obtaining help. The book also addresses the particular challenges facing parents in dealing with this little known and misunderstood behavior, which is common among children and adolescents

This definitive new self-help guide offers help to the millions of Americans who suffer from trichotillomania, an obsessive-compulsive disorder that leads them to pull out their hair.

“The definitive guide for those who pick or pull.” —Reid Wilson, PhD, author Stopping the Noise in Your Head A comprehensive treatment plan grounded in evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help you overcome body-focused repetitive behaviors for good! If you have body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRB) such as hair pulling (trichotillomania) or skin picking (dermatillomania), you may feel embarrassed about seeking help. But there are proven-effective strategies you can use to overcome these behaviors and improve your overall quality of life—this book will show you how. In this evidence-based resource, three renowned experts and clinicians offer powerful CBT skills to help you move past BFRB. You’ll learn why you engage in these behaviors, and how to identify your own sensory “triggers”—places, things, or experiences that cause your behavior to become worse. Finally, you’ll learn strategies to use when faced with these triggers, and develop your own customized “plan of action” for moving beyond BFRB for good. With time, practice, and solid skills for managing stress, anxiety, urges, and other triggers, this book will help you break free from BFRB and feel more in control of your life.

Trichotillomania (TTM) is a complex disorder that has long been considered difficult to treat as few effective therapeutic options exist. The empirically-supported treatment approach described in this innovative guide blends traditional behavior therapy elements of habit reversal training and stimulus control techniques with the more contemporary behavioral elements of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). With this breakthrough approach, clients learn to be aware of their pulling and warning signals, use self-management strategies for stopping and preventing pulling, stop fighting against their pulling-related urges and thoughts, and work toward increasing their quality of life.

The phenomenon of trichotillomania, or hair pulling, has been observed for centuries. The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates noted hair pulling as one of the many symptoms that the physician was advised to assess as a routine matter. In our present time and culture, "pulling one's hair out" is more typically referred to in the context of depression, frustration, boredom, or other emotional turmoil. In truth, hair pulling is a highly prevalent behavior that may be associated with significant morbidity. Edited by experts in the field, Trichotillomania addresses the importance of the study of hair pulling from both a clinical and a research perspective. Documenting the clinical phenomenology, morbidity, and management of trichotillomania, it discusses the phenomenology of childhood trichotillomania, providing a comprehensive description of its symptoms and sequelae. Of particular value for the clinician are contributions on the assessment of trichotillomania and a detailed cognitive-behavioral treatment plan. The uses of medication, the place of a psychodynamic perspective, the value of behavioral interventions, and the role of hypnotherapy are also thoroughly discussed. This discerning text further documents the significance of research on trichotillomania for obtaining a broader understanding of complex brain-behavior relationships. While recent research has suggested that hair pulling lies on the spectrum of obsessive-compulsive disorder, a range of evidence is presented that indicates important differences between trichotillomania and OCD. As such, attention by clinicians to hair pulling may be of enormous value to patients, whose condition was previously unrecognized, while leading to a better understanding of the range of OCD-like disorders.