Prevalence and emotional impact of hair pulling

Sep 30 2009

1.5% of males and 3.4% of females in a college sample reported significant hair pulling resulting in bald patches at some point in their lives.

Overall estimates of people who pull their hair to any extent for non-grooming purposes are likely between 3 and 15% of the population.

Adults with trichotillomania report higher incidence of depression, anxiety, social withdrawal, and problems with self-esteem.

Due to the shame and humiliation associated with hair pulling most sufferers never report their behavior to a professional and, as a result often experience feelings of isolation and helplessness.

What Resources are available?

www.trich.org is the website for the Trichotillomania Learning Center (TLC) in Santa Cruz, CA. TLC has helped hundreds of thousands of people find comfort and get help for their hair pulling problem.

www.StopPulling.com is the only interactive, completely private, online behavioral program available. To date this program has assisted thousands of people in over 40 countries around the world to stop pulling their hair.

Stay Out of My Hair! Parenting Your Child with Trichotillomania, by Suzanne Mouton-Odum, Ph.D. is a popular book released earlier this year that helps parents to be proactive in helping their child who pulls.

The Hair Pulling Habit and You: How to Solve the Trichotillomania Puzzle, by Ruth Golomb, MS is a guidebook for teens who pull that provides step by step instructions on how to beat the hair pulling problem.

Help for Hairpullers, by Nancy Keuthen, Ph.D. is an incredible self-help book for adult pullers.