Regain your freedom.
Trichotillomania and Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors
When Thoughts and Uncertainty Feel Hard to Escape.
It’s like you can never get free.
Trichotillomania, also known as hair-pulling disorder, is a mental health condition characterized by recurrent urges to pull out hair from the scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes, or other areas of the body. Many people describe the behavior as a way to cope with stress, anxiety, boredom, or overwhelming emotions—often followed by feelings of relief, shame, or frustration. While trichotillomania is classified as a body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB), it is not a lack of willpower or self-control.
Living with trichotillomania can be isolating and emotionally exhausting, especially when it affects self-esteem, daily functioning, or relationships. The good news is that effective, evidence-based treatments are available. Therapy can help individuals understand their triggers, build healthier coping strategies, and develop a more compassionate relationship with themselves. Recovery doesn’t mean perfection—it means support, skills, and progress at your own pace.
You may notice
Repeated pulling of hair from the scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes, beard, or other body areas
Shame, self-criticism, or secrecy around symptoms
Pulling during periods of stress, anxiety, boredom, or deep concentration
Repetitive behaviors that feel automatic or compulsive
Here’s what we’ll do together
Therapy focuses on increasing awareness, reducing shame, and teaching specific skills that interrupt the pull-pick cycle
Therapy for trichotillomania and other body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs) focuses on helping clients understand their patterns, reduce urges, and build healthier ways of coping—without shame or judgment.
Treatment is typically collaborative, skills-based, and evidence-informed. Therapy helps clients increase awareness of triggers and urges, develop practical tools to interrupt the behavior, and address the emotional and sensory needs the behavior may be serving.
Approaches often include:
Habit Reversal Training (HRT): Learning to recognize early warning signs and replace the behavior with safer, effective alternatives
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Identifying and shifting unhelpful thought patterns that maintain the behavior
Emotion regulation and stress management skills
Sensory and body-based strategies to reduce urges
Self-compassion and shame-reduction work, which is essential for long-term change
Therapy is tailored to each individual and may address co-occurring concerns such as anxiety, OCD, perfectionism, or trauma. The goal is not perfection or total control, but meaningful reduction in symptoms, increased confidence, and improved quality of life.
With consistent support, many clients experience significant relief and feel more empowered in their relationship with their body and emotions.
At the end of the day, I want you to know:
I want you to know that these behaviors do not define you, and you have the capacity to build new patterns that truly serve you.
What we’ll work on
Imagine a life where…
Imagine a life where your hands feel calm, your urges no longer control your day, and you can move through stressful moments without turning to hair pulling or skin picking.
Imagine a life where you don’t have to hide, explain away bald spots or scabs, or carry the weight of shame. A life where you feel understood, supported, and in control.
Imagine a life where mirrors don’t trigger anxiety, where boredom doesn’t lead to automatic pulling, and where you trust yourself again.
Imagine a life where urges still come and go—but you know exactly what to do when they show up, and they no longer define you.
Change is possible.
Change is possible.
Questions?
FAQs
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Treatment focuses on reducing urges, increasing awareness, and building healthier coping strategies. Progress is individualized, and setbacks are treated with compassion—not judgment.
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Trichotillomania affects children, teens, and adults of all genders. Many people live with it for years before seeking help, often due to shame or misunderstanding about the condition.
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Feeling embarrassed is incredibly common. Therapists trained in BFRBs understand how vulnerable this can feel and work to create a safe, non-judgmental environment where you don’t have to explain or justify your experience.
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Hair pulling is often driven by automatic brain patterns and emotional regulation needs, not conscious choice. Many people pull without fully realizing it, especially during moments of stress, fatigue, or boredom.