Is It Normal to Pull Your Hair Out Strand by Strand and Eat It?

Question by Alex: Is it normal to pull your hair out strand by strand and eat it?
Ive been doing this for about four years now and i dont even know how it started. I just do it and dont even notice. I am not stressed or depressed ive read possibilities but am not sure. It started when i was 15.

Best answer:

Answer by 11:11
thats OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder)

It’s called Trichotillomania. You should get help before you go bald

Trichotillomania (TTM, also known as trichotillosis, or more commonly as trich) is defined as “hair loss from a patient’s repetitive self-pulling of hair” and is characterized by the repeated urge to pull out scalp hair, eyelashes, facial hair, nose hair, pubic hair, eyebrows or other body hair, sometimes resulting in noticeable bald patches. Trichotillomania is classified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) as an impulse control disorder, but there are questions about how it should be classified. It may seem, at times, to resemble a habit, an addiction, a tic disorder or an obsessive–compulsive disorder.

The disorder “leads to noticeable hair loss, distress, and social or functional impairment”, and is “often chronic and difficult to treat”.

Trichotillomania may be present in infants, but the peak age of onset is 9 to 13. Depression or stress can trigger the trich. Due to social implications the disorder is often unreported and it is difficult to predict accurately prevalence of trichotillomania; the lifetime prevalence of trich is estimated to be between 0.6% (overall) and 1.5% (in males) to 3.4% (in females).

this is what happens when you eat hair…
http://media.nowpublic.net/images//7b/5/7b5482b69dd065d3fcdc07c5d31c7d64.jpg

(yes, that is a huge hair ball in the shape of a stomach!)

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Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Difficult-to-Treat Eating Disorders – Eunice Chen, PhD – Borderline Personality Disorder, Obesity and Eating Disorders – May 7, 2010 New Haven, CT

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