Hair Pulling, Nail Biting and Skin Picking

These are three separate conditions but they’ve all been linked together as ‘related’ disorders.

My initial instinct is to say it’s just wrong. But there is a difference between traditional ‘nail biting’ that loads of us do, and when this nail biting becomes compulsive, just like skin picking or hair pulling.

A Habit?

There comes a point when something becomes more than a habit. You might have a habit to pull out your hair in certain situations, or bite your nails when they break. But do you feel a compulsion to do it? That’s why I’ve always believed trichotillomania to be a little different to a habit.

Trichsters will not feel compelled to pull out there hair 24/7. It can be brought on by stress and boredom, or it can just happen for absolutely no reason at all. In many ways it’s pleasurable, and in other ways that feeling is what causes us to want to get rid of the hair. Nail-biting as everyone is commonly aware might not be that strong, but when it becomes serious there seems to be a huge link to trichotillomania.

Emotional Effects

After reading up on nail biting (also called onychophagia), it’s clear that nail-biters go through the exact shame feelings of shame as trichsters. Asking why they can’t stop, feeling ‘weird’, trying to cover up… and all of this again in skin pickers.

What I want to know is, what makes us go for the nails instead of the skin? Why choose our hair?

Is it just the same disorder, but a different area of the body being targeted?

I’m afraid I don’t know any of the answers, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. You can read a little more by clicking here.

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There are many weird and wonderful things that people do when they have trich, but are they really so weird? I hadn’t heard of some of them before, but really they all come down to the same thing.

Split Ends: Many people sit for hours picking away at their split ends (including me) and this may lead to trich or become just as time-consuming and compulsive.

This is part six of a series of posts every Saturday on how rituals associated with trichotillomania… This can also be found at Marmalade Skies, my personal blog.

There are many weird and wonderful things that people do when they have trich, but are they really so weird? I hadn’t heard of some of them before, but really they all come down to the same thing.

Compulsively Cutting Hair: This may not technically be trichotillomania, but the effects and feelings can be similar, though I wouldn’t want to generalise.

This is part five of a series of posts every Saturday on how rituals associated with trichotillomania… This can also be found at Marmalade Skies, my personal blog.

There are many weird and wonderful things that people do when they have trich, but are they really so weird? I hadn’t heard of some of them before, but really they all come down to the same thing.

Other People’s Hair: Many people can also pull out other’s hair compulsively as well as their own.

This is part four of a series of posts every Saturday on how rituals associated with trichotillomania… This can also be found at Marmalade Skies, my personal blog.

There are many weird and wonderful things that people do when they have trich, but are they really so weird? I hadn’t heard of some of them before, but really they all come down to the same thing.

Eating Hair (Trichophagia): Many people eat the hair, or the root. This is as much of a compulsion as the pulling, not any weirder than anyone else. However, it can result in hairballs forming in the stomach.

This is part three of a series of posts every Saturday on how rituals associated with trichotillomania… This can also be found at Marmalade Skies, my personal blog.

Impulse control disorders are mental health disorders. They are disorders defined by a lack of control, rather than obsessive control. As such, the actions relating to impulse control disorders can happen without a person thinking, and can cause much distress in their lives.

Types of impulse control disorder:
- trichotillomania (hair pulling)
- dermatillomania (skin picking)
- intermittent explosive disorder (hot-headedness)
- kleptomania (stealing)
- pathological gambling
- pyromania (starting fires)

*For more information on any of these conditions please click on them to be referred to the Wikipedia article.*

Whilst these disorders may seem very different, they are based around the impulse that the sufferer has to perform certain actions.

Impulsivity

Impulsivity is what links all of these disorders together which leads to sufferers seeking short term gain or feelings with the result of a long term loss. For example, the short term relief of pulling hair is met with the long term loss resulting in feeling bad about yourself, baldness and so on.

Sufferers act on impulse rather than on thought. This happens to everyone to some degree in everyday life, but more people are prone to certain impulses than others for a variety of different reasons. Boredom can also lead to an increase in impulsive behaviour, as can the desire for certain sensations even if they may have negative long-term results.

Impulsivity is also linked to obsessive compulsive disorders and addiction.

OCD

Impulse control disorders are within the spectrum of obsessive compulsive disorders. Whilst OCD is commonly characterized by obsessive thoughts and compulsion, both OCD and impulse control disorders involve rituals. In the case of trichotillomania these may include eating the hair, pulling ‘bad’ hairs and more.

Conclusion

This is an extremely brief overview of impulse control disorders. I am planning to learn and write more about all of these disorders, but there is a lot of information available online. Please see some of the links above for information on individual conditions.

What do you think?

Do you see the link between OCD and impulse control disorders? If you have one or more of the listed disorders, do you think it is similar to any of the others? Does your disorder involve rituals?

I don’t think I ever have. It it strange because I talk about it online a lot, but never in my life did I learn about the condition through people talking about it, to me or on the news. It is such a hard thing because so many people never even know about the large number of medical conditions that others have, and those that have them are reluctant to talk about it. At least through blogging it makes it easier for us to talk about conditions we might have.

What feeling do you get where you pull your hair? Or do you have another habit or condition which gives you tingles?