trichotillomania

[prettygoodword]

trichotillomania (trik-uh-til-uh-MAY-nee-uh) - n., a compulsion to pull out one's own hair.


A medical (or at least psychiatric) condition. Usually not diagnosable until the hair loss is noticeable. Can be hair not on the scalp, which frankly creeps me out, but okay then. The condition was named by a French dermatologist named Hallopeau around 1900 from Greek roots thriks, hair + tillō, pull out/pluck + mania, madness.

---L.

Comments

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

I gather that it's more at distracted handfuls than one-by-one cosmetic plucking?

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

Yes. Or even more, by handfuls aforethought.

---L.

[dramaticlass.livejournal.com]

Incorrect. Please do the proper research before you answer questions that you are not equipped to answer.

[boosette.livejournal.com]

or concentrated plucking of socially-acceptable places to depilate as a self-harmy thing.

Like ... plucking your leg hair? socially acceptable, even if it gets the "weird" label, but not normal or usual.

[dramaticlass.livejournal.com]

Pardon me, but how does the idea of compulsively pulling out hair that is not on one's head creep you out, exactly?

As someone who has spent the better part of the past three decades battling this disorder, I know what it feels like to wake up without any eyelashes when you went to bed the night before feeling so proud of how long and thick they'd finally become.

I think you need more than a basic definition before you form an opinion or judgment. Try a little empathy, eh?

"Trichotillomania (trick-o-til-o-MAY-nee-ah) is a disorder that causes people to pull out the hair from their scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows, pubic area, underarms, beard, chest, legs or other parts of the body, resulting in noticeable bald patches. Hair pulling varies greatly in its severity, location on the body, and response to treatment. For some people, at some times, trichotillomania is mild and can be quelled with a bit of extra awareness and concentration. For others, at times the urge may be so strong that it makes thinking of anything else nearly impossible.

Trichotillomania (also referred to as TTM or "trich") is currently defined as an impulse control disorder but there are still questions about how it should be classified. It may seem to resemble a habit, an addiction, a tic disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Most recently, it is being conceptualized as part of a family of "body-focused repetitive behaviors" (BFRBs) along with skin picking and nail biting." (from trich-dot-org)

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

The "creeps me out" statement was nothing more or less than a personal squick -- I was, in fact, specifically thinking of eyelashes when I wrote that, and the idea of plucking them gives me the shuddering heebies. I cannot explain why, any more than arachnophobes cannot explain why spiders cause that reflexive reaction. Hair on other parts of the body, or even the rest of the head, don't give me that reaction. I should have been clearer in my wording, for which my apology -- my squick makde me careflessly over-focus on that one thing. (And extreme sympathies that it's part of how the condition manifests in you.)

---L.