Triggering (SH): Trichotillomania.

[DontForgetMeLover]

I've been pulling my hair for as long as I can remember. When I was younger, I would mainly pull my eyelashes, then I moved to my eyebrows, then to my scalp, then to my pubic hair. Now, I pull from all of those places. Mostly from my head though. In the past year, it's gotten worse than I ever expected. I used to have such thick hair, now it's thinning. It WAS worse. I've tried everything. I've tried keeping my hands busy, etc, and nothing works. I always go back. It physically hurts not to pull. My neck starts to ache and my fingers start to hurt and I HATE it. I depend on it. It makes me feel better. I have high anxiety and a tendency for suicidal thoughts. Pulling is one thing that makes it better.

Any tips?

[Madeleine.Claire]

Just like any addictive behavior, this is something that you can stop, and that you can beat. I know since you've been doing it for a long time it might be a little harder, but you can still do it.

When you do start having the feeling of your neck aching and your fingers hurting, try doing something, anything to distract yourself. I've had experience in wanting or needing to hurt myself, I know it's so difficult at times, but you can do it.

Count backwards from twenty whenever you get the urge to pull your hair. Maybe try pulling out the hair on a doll instead? Just find something else to do that isn't going to cause any more damage to yourself.

In my experience, whenever I wanted to do something to hurt myself, I would wait 17 minutes. I know, most random number ever, but it worked. After that period of time had passed, I would feel a lot better about the situation. Don't think about pulling your hair out as something you need. It's something you want, and you don't need it. I have anxiety too and I know at times you have no idea why you feel the way you do, but that doesn't mean that you should do this to yourself.

Think about how good you'll feel afterwards if you don't pull your hair out.

If you wanna talk further you can PM or VM me. (:

<3

[DontForgetMeLover]

Maddie, I think I'm going to try a few of those things. Tomorrow will be the first day of my attempt to stop. I'll keep you posted. (:

[Madeleine.Claire]

I hope some of them work! (:

Good luck, Miranda.

<3