Trichotillomania is such a stigmatizing disorder that people will go to great lengths to hide it — to explain bald spots to acquaintances, some patients will lie and say they had cancer, Woods said.
“I have talked to patients who have pulled for 25 years, and their husbands don’t even know it, they hide it so well,” he said.
People with the disorder don’t just pull from their heads — they also pull hair from their eyebrows, eyelashes, and pubic regions, Woods said.
Living with the disease, Pearson at times felt suicidal. She dropped out of high school because she was terrified of her friends finding out.
“There was a time in my early 20s when I really, seriously considered, could I cut my hands off and live my life?” she said. “My hands were my enemies, because they pulled my hair.”
To manage her condition 18 years ago, Pearson tried relaxation techniques for the situations that led to her pulling. For example, she tended to pull her hair while driving, so she bought thin leather gloves and told herself that she could not remove them — or pull her hair — until she turned the car off.
Today, there are many more strategies available to help people identify the triggers for hair-pulling and figure out the best way to control the impulses in those situations, Pearson said.
The Trichotillomania Learning Center has assisted more than 100,000 people in some way since 1991, Pearson said. The organization holds conferences, retreats, professional training sessions, and other programs to help people manage the disorder. The center also helps health care professionals learn about treating people for the condition.
“To experience the entrapment of this type of compulsion, and then to experience the freedom of living without it is a gift I wish for everyone,” Pearson said.