In this blog post I will be responding to a question from my guided journal, My Trichster Diaries. Please feel free to share your answer in the comments below.
Understand that we cannot "just stop"
I've talked about this before but it bears repeating: telling us to "just stop" does nothing. It does not help. It never will.
Those of us in the trichotillomania community would LOVE to "just stop." Believe me, we've tried! If it were possible, trichotillomania would no longer exist. Poof! Gone from the DSM-V! Hooray!
Accept that it doesn't hurt us even though it may seem painful to you
Pulling out our hair feels good. There is a reason we keep going back to it time and time again. The best way I can describe it for people outside the trichotillomania community is comparing it to scratching a mosquito bite. There is something so satisfying and good about scratching it! Even if you know that you'll eventually make it bleed and scab over, your hand keeps going back for more. That's how we feel.
Stop pushing medication as a first step in healing
There are so many other things we can do to manage our trichotillomania without jumping right into prescription medication. I have personally tried medication for my trichotillomania, as well as interviewed others who have, and we all came to the same conclusion: it doesn't really help.
At one point in my teenage years I was taking five different medications and saw little to no improvement. One was an antipsychotic! WTF!
Of course, there are times where medication is needed—many people with trichotillomania live with other disorders and those disorders may require medication BUT for strictly treating trichotillomania purposes, medication doesn't help all that much. I went to a presentation on this in October that you can read here.
4. Talk about it more! (For those in the trichotillomania community)
I love when Aneela from HabitAware said, "This is the most common disorder you've never heard of."
There are tons of people in the world, even in your daily life that have trichotillomania! The reason you don't know is because NO ONE TALKS ABOUT IT. The moment we start sharing our experience, we open doors for others to do the same thing.
One of my favorite examples of this is when I was out with a friend and her two friends. I had never met them before and was having fun getting to know them when one asked me about my tattoo (I have "The Trichster Diaries" on my forearm). I then proceeded to share about my trichotillomania and both friends said, "I do that too!" How could it be that three out of four people had trichotillomania? Isn't that just amazing?
Sharing our experience heals us but it heals others too. If you haven't started sharing yet you might want to consider it! Now don't get me wrong, you don't have to start jumping on social media and making videos like me—you can share with those closest to you...and then jump on social media to make videos :-P!
What are four things you wish?
Comments