Why you shouldn’t pull out gray hair and how to deal with it

Gray hair is a fairly serious problem for both women and men. How to deal with it and what to do to hide graying hair

Gray hair is a serious problem for many. Special coloring that imitates gray hair looks stylish, but natural gray hair looks untidy. Therefore, when faced with such a problem, people try to solve it as soon as possible. There is a common myth among people that you should not pull out gray hairs, as there will be even more of them. This is nothing more than a superstition, but it is really better to refuse pulling out.

Where do legs grow from?

The causes of trichotillomania and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are largely similar because the former is a manifestation of the latter. Such reasons may be:

• some mental disorders, from depression to schizophrenia;
• auto-aggression - when a hostile action for some reason cannot be directed at an irritating object (perhaps this object is parents) and is therefore directed towards oneself;
• a purposeful desire to injure oneself in order to relieve psycho-emotional stress (after bodily injury, a person experiences a feeling of satisfaction, which is associated with the release of endorphins into the blood due to the sensation of pain);
• genetics - according to recent research, the presence of a specific gene may be one of the predisposing factors to the occurrence of the disorder;
• hormonal disorders - this theory does not have sufficient substantiation, but it is indirectly confirmed by the high prevalence of the disorder among those people who suffer from hormonal imbalances and adolescents during puberty.

Psychological reasons

The pathogenesis of the disease is explained by psychological and physiological aspects. The skin is well innervated by a network of nerve fibers. Due to their significant sensitivity, it becomes a target for relieving tension and getting rid of negative emotions. Pulling out, being a kind of self-punishment, is accompanied by noticeable discomfort and burning, which switch the patient’s concentration from his suspiciousness, anxiety, and depression to physical suffering. By performing such actions, the patient subconsciously reacts to increased demands placed on him by others. He hopes that their criticism and accusations, going through the pain, will disappear or decrease. In stressful, traumatic situations, the body acts as an object whose actions can be clearly controlled.

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Sometimes trichotillomania is an independent mental illness. In some cases, it acts as a complication of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), a manifestation of manic-depressive psychosis, exogenous brain damage, schizophrenia, senile dementia, and mental retardation.

Reasons for self-depilation in a child:

• high demands on his behavior;
• criticism of school performance;
• hypercontrol;
• change of place of study;
• parental divorce;
• emergency guardianship;
• constant comments.

Auto-depilation acts as a means of distraction from reality, self-punishment. In an adult patient, the development of pathology involves psychosomatics and metaphysical causes of trichotillomania. The trigger mechanism for the disease can be stress or any traumatic experience.

The key is in the past

Often the habit of pulling out your hair can be combined with other compulsions - for example, nail biting. Often parents punish their child for such actions and do not understand that sometimes a bad habit is caused not by stubbornness, but by a mental disorder. It is important to provide such children with timely, qualified treatment so that they avoid more serious pathologies in the future.

A friend of mine shared her thoughts that the cause of her problem lies in the past. More precisely, at the time when her mother brought her lover to their house. He did not pester her, did not make ambiguous hints, but he tried his best to “educate” her, not hesitating to use physical force. Mom, according to the classics of the genre, chose a position of non-interference and simply turned a blind eye to what was happening. That's when it all started. Every time her stepfather raised his voice or raised his hand at her, made a remark, and soon when he simply addressed her, her hands themselves began to reach for her hair.

How to recognize

Everyone suffering from this disorder is characterized by a strong desire to pull out hair, which weakens or disappears when the action has already been completed. At the same time, a person experiences satisfaction, pleasant relaxation, and his tension disappears. My friend, in response to the question of why she continues to do this now, when her stepfather has not been around for a long time, thoughtfully replied that the desire to pull out hair can arise if she is bored. For example, during monotonous routine activities. Since she was working as a graphic designer at the time, she had to spend a lot of time on the computer. This is what happened at work.

Sometimes trichotillomania occurs as a one-time reaction to stressful or psychologically traumatic situations. In this case, the person is usually not aware of what he is doing. Basically, for everyone who is susceptible to the disorder, the act of pulling out hair is a whole ritual: some wrap the hair around their finger before pulling it out, some tug it first, and others eat the hair or hair follicle after pulling it out. The latter is called trichophagia and can lead to Rapunzel syndrome. Alas, the beautiful name does not at all brighten up the frightening essence of the syndrome: large hairballs form in the gastrointestinal tract, because hair comes out of the stomach naturally with great difficulty, so they can only be removed surgically.

When hair pulling, skin scratching or nail biting become diseases

Translator: Tatyana Arkharova

Editor: Veronica Rees

Source: Self

You are not alone if a “bad” habit strangely brings you pleasure: pulling out an ingrown hair, pulling out a gray hair, picking a pimple, biting off a hangnail and/or all the things you can do in privacy at home (and sometimes not at home). Even if you know it's not very good, you still get some pleasure from the process.

If these frequently repeated behaviors are causing you harm, the habits may actually be what experts call body-focused cycling disorder. "These behaviors can make you feel lonely or ashamed," says Nicholas Crimarco, Ph.D., an instructor in clinical psychology in the department of child and adolescent psychiatry at Columbia University.

What is body-focused cycling disorder?

According to the TLC Foundation for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors, body-focused cycling is a disorder that causes people to repeatedly touch their hair or body, causing themselves physical harm and psychological distress.

These disorders are classified as "obsessive-compulsive and related" in the fifth version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (also known as DSM-5), the classification and diagnostic manual of the American Psychiatric Association. But body-focused cycling and OCD have several important differences, which we'll look at later.

Basic Types of Body-Focused Cyclic Actions

1) Trichotillomania or hair pulling

According to the Mayo Clinic, the disorder is characterized by hair pulling from the scalp, eyelashes and eyebrows, pubic areas, or other parts of the body. The habit of excessively plucking your eyebrows simply leads to the fact that your eyebrows become not only not twins, but not even sisters. At the same time, trichotillomania, in which eyebrows are pulled out indiscriminately, leads to eyebrows becoming very sparse and with “bald patches.” However, trichotillomania does not always lead to bald spots.

Diagnosis criteria for trichotillomania have become clearer since the release of DSM-5 in 2013. To make a diagnosis, previously one had to closely monitor the appearance of visible hair loss, i.e. wait for bald patches to appear. Many people do everything they can to hide their hair loss, or cause harm to parts of the body that they can easily cover, which is why the criteria for defining the disorder have changed slightly. Currently, trichotillomania is diagnosed following the commonly reported hair pulling that results in a receding hairline. Hair pulling cannot be associated with another mental or physical health condition.

2) Dermatillomania or scratching and traumatizing the skin

This is an obsessive desire to do something to the skin that leads to damage: scars, discoloration or injury. One of the main diagnostic criteria is the person's repeated attempts to stop the behavior. Interaction with the skin can be different: touching, rubbing, scratching or scratching in different places. Some people pick at pimples, blemishes, dry or cracked skin, others focus on a specific area. As with trichotillomania, this behavior does not resemble any other condition or disorder.

3) Other obsessive-compulsive and related disorders

This diagnosis includes compulsive behavior that is not characterized by hair pulling or skin trauma.

“Nail biting, lip biting, cheek biting, skin biting, and any other type of behavior that involves biting or biting,” says clinical psychologist, Ph.D., TLC Foundation for BFRBs Advisory Board member Suzanne Mouton-Odum.

As with trichotillomania and dermatillomania, physical damage and the person's inability to stop on their own are key features of this condition.

In some cases, disorders can lead to further problems. For example, those who break their skin and bite their nails can develop infections. And in some cases, trichotillomania can have more than just aesthetic negative consequences. According to the TLC Foundation for BFRBs, 5 to 20 percent of people with trichotillomania also ingest hair, which in severe cases can lead to intestinal obstruction.

Although the effects may vary depending on the types of disorders, one of the main symptoms is emotional distress and decreased quality of life. Mouton-Odum says most people with these disorders experience intense feelings of guilt and shame, which can sometimes be as painful as the behavior itself.

Apart from being self-isolating, shame can also affect a person's life in many ways, be it in their personal and social life, academically or professionally. Some people turn down invitations after half their eyebrows are gone, or don't date anyone for fear of being judged for their scars, or are afraid to work in crowded places. If you spend a lot of time on the behavior itself or trying to clean up the result of it—for example, wearing makeup to hide scars or styling your hair to hide a receding hairline—this is another indicator of a disorder.

According to the Mayo Clinic, these disorders only provoke the onset of others, such as depression and anxiety.

The cause of cyclical body-focused actions is unknown

There is no exact data, but according to experts, there may be a genetic basis. Additionally, if you observe someone who exhibits this behavior, there is a chance that you will copy their actions. “We regularly see the same disorders that patients have in their family members,” says Mouton-Odum. However, this is not always the same behavior. You may pull out hair, your father may bite his nails, and your mother may pick out pimples.

What is certain is that such disorders are not a deliberate form of self-harm that specifically causes pain or discomfort. Unlike deliberate self-harm, people can even experience pleasant feelings. This is one of the things that distinguishes body-focused cyclical behaviors from OCD, a condition that involves obsessive rituals and obsessions—persistent, unwanted, and intrusive thoughts, often aimed at preventing harm or danger. Mouton-Odum says many people with OCD hate their habits, while people who experience cyclical, body-focused behavior tend to calm down and enjoy the habit.

A person who has been psychologically traumatized and abused will not necessarily suffer from these disorders, at least not to date.

Body-focused cyclical actions tend to occur in response to certain triggers

When causes are unknown, mental health professionals tend to focus on what is causing the disorder, which can help guide treatment. There are 5 main groups of triggers described:

1. Sensory triggers. Any of the five senses—sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch—may prompt you to pull or pull out your hair. “You might see something that triggers that desire, like gray hair or a spot,” Mouton-Odum says. "You may feel something in your hair that you don't like in your hair." Smell, taste and sound can also be involved, such as the sound of scratching the head, but this is less common.
2. Cognitive triggers. These are your thoughts or beliefs, such as “I need to pull out my gray hair so no one will notice” or “If I pop a pimple, it will be better.” These thoughts are less intrusive than in the case of OCD.
3. Affective triggers. These are triggers for emotional diversity. Some people do it in response to feelings such as anxiety, tension, fear, anger or boredom, or to increase positive emotions, satisfaction or relaxation.
4. Motor triggers: include certain movements, postures and unconscious behaviors. For example, if you habitually rest your chin on your palm while working, this may make you more susceptible to noticing facial hair or pimples.
5. Situational triggers. Factors such as your location, what you do, how long you spend and what environment you are in can trigger certain behaviors. For example, in the bathroom, late at night, you locked the door yourself, put a magnifying mirror, turned on the light brightly and took tweezers in your hands.

Professional treatment can help

The main treatment, Crimarco said, is cognitive behavioral therapy, which is habit-change training that involves helping a person become aware of their habit and its triggers, as well as helping them develop “competing responses.”

As you learn to manage your condition, you and your therapist can discover why you're behaving this way—for example, if it's a distraction from emotional stimuli or a response to boredom—and work to address the root of the problem.

If you're trying to find a doctor, it's worth taking the time to find someone who is familiar with treating these disorders. The TLC Foundation for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors even has a list of specialists who know how to work with these disorders. This is not an exhaustive list, but it may be a good start if you are looking for someone who will at least definitely help.

In terms of resources, there are websites called StopPulling.com and StopPicking.com that are full of useful information.

Unlike OCD, medication is not an option. But depending on the underlying causes of your actions or other mental health issues, your doctor may suggest medications. For example, if the trigger for scratching is anxiety, your doctor may prescribe a medication that will reduce stress levels. While these disorders and OCD are different, some people with OCD may suffer from body-focused cycling and vice versa, so medications for OCD may help with other conditions as well. Everything is very individual, so it is better to consult a doctor.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that you can seek help at any time, even if you do not meet the official criteria for diagnosis. If a habit harms you physically and negatively affects your life, there is professional help.

“It’s always better to seek help than to wait for things to get worse or tell yourself you can handle it on your own. Too many people view these disorders as weakness of spirit and lack of willpower, but doctors know for sure that these are conditions that people simply have to learn to work with. And there’s nothing shameful about it,” says Crimarco.

A big secret

To prevent others from noticing anything, patients can wear wigs or false eyelashes. And if the area of ​​baldness is too noticeable and cannot be disguised, a person may well refuse any social contacts altogether, preferring to be secluded. Thus, trichotillomania leads to adverse social consequences.

People with the disorder strive to hide their pathological habit and for this reason they may even refuse to visit medical institutions, which in turn has further unpleasant consequences.

People with the disorder strive to hide their pathological habit and for this reason they may even refuse to visit medical institutions, which in turn has further unpleasant consequences. For example, a person may suffer from skin infections. If eyelashes are pulled out, this can lead to inflammation and infectious diseases of the eyes. Those patients who eat hair after pulling it out may suffer from various dental and intestinal diseases. Sometimes the disorder gains momentum and can lead to depression, attention deficit disorder, etc. A friend, for example, has been preparing to go to a psychologist, according to her, for an eternity. But by the time she reached him, hair on one of the bald spots had stopped growing altogether.

Symptoms

Hair pulling in trichotillomania can be conscious or unconscious. By causing pain and physical damage to oneself in this way, a person tries to displace more unpleasant sensations from the psyche - fear, nervous tension, anticipation, and so on.

Interestingly, pulling out hair during trichotillomania brings pleasure to patients - the pain provokes the release of hormones into the blood, which seem to “calm” the nervous system.

The following symptoms are typical for trichotillomania:

• Repetition of episodes of hair pulling in certain situations - for example, hair pulling occurs in moments of fear, nervous tension, or when performing boring, monotonous work.
• A combination of obsessive actions - hair pulling in babies can be accompanied by nail biting, finger sucking, and so on.
• Preliminary actions - before plucking, the hair can be curled around a finger, smoothed, ruffled, and so on.

More severe forms of trichotillomania may be accompanied by deliberate harm to one’s body - in these cases, hair is pulled out not only on the head, but also on the body, and auxiliary means - tweezers, forceps, and so on - can be used for this purpose.

Sometimes hair pulling turns into a ritual action - with its help, patients protect themselves from the evil eye, for good luck, or to protect themselves from something.

Most often, trichotillomania occurs in children who have suffered emotional trauma or are under stress. Hair pulling is unconscious; as a rule, children cannot control themselves and, being in uncomfortable conditions, cause themselves quite severe harm - they may develop bald patches, and then develop complications.

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Older children, teenagers and women can become very worried about their “habits” and try to control their neurosis, further aggravating their condition.

Complications

Trichotillomania is dangerous not only in itself, but also because of its complications. Against the background of neurosis, patients may experience secondary consequences: depression, social phobias, anxiety, refusal of social life. Feeling ashamed of their behavior, especially if visible bald patches have appeared, adolescents and adult women refuse to communicate, and they often hide their disorder and stop communicating with others, which is why other behavioral and mental disorders arise.

In addition to psychological ones, somatic pathologies can also develop:

• In place of the torn hair on the head there is alopecia, skin irritation, inflammation and the formation of ulcers due to secondary infection.
• More serious consequences of tearing out eyelashes are damage to the eyeball and even loss of vision.
• If hair is swallowed, intestinal obstruction may develop, which requires surgical intervention.

How to treat

Unfortunately, today there are no special techniques or specific drugs for the treatment of trichotillomania. Therefore, a variety of methods are used. Parents usually shave their children's heads, and many adults also choose to shave their hair, but this does not make much sense because the underlying psychological reason is not addressed. In addition, hair grows back quickly. Cognitive behavioral psychotherapy is the most effective. The patient is taught safe replacement behavior, say massage of the auricle, etc.

At home, people often use special devices that fix their hands and prevent them from pulling out hair. Some wear weights like those used by athletes, which help shift attention from the hair to the effort required to lift the arm. Medication correction of behavior may be required: this happens if psychotherapy does not work, and vice versa, to increase its effectiveness, in order to consolidate the results. For example, if the disorder is severe and the patient is pulling out hair too intensely, the doctor may prescribe selective serotonin receptor inhibitors.

Trichotillomania can only be diagnosed by a psychologist or psychotherapist. After all, first of all, it is necessary to distinguish the true disorder from other causes of baldness, such as lichen, fungus or nervous hair loss.

But in any case, trichotillomania can only be diagnosed by a psychologist or psychotherapist. After all, first of all, it is necessary to distinguish the true disorder from other causes of baldness, such as lichen, fungus or nervous hair loss. Here, not only an external examination is important, but also a confidential conversation with the patient himself and his family. We need a detailed detailed analysis of his life. To get a complete picture, you should find out about the drugs that the patient has used recently, about hereditary diseases, diet and sleep patterns, current psychological state, past illnesses experienced, etc.

How to get rid of gray hair?

1. Cut it off

If there are only a couple of gray hairs, then you can carefully cut them off at the very root with thin nail scissors.

2. Change your haircut

You can shorten your hair: a haircut with hair length above the chin, with a short crown, bangs and open ears does not fall into a parting, which is why gray hair is not visible.

3. Tinting spray

There are sprays in stores that can be used to slightly tint your hair color. The effect will last until the next wash.

4. Hair coloring

The easiest way to get rid of gray hair for a few weeks. If you do not want to change your natural hair color, you can use a directly penetrating pigment that will cover gray hair by 30%.

September 21, 19:33

It is important to find the true causes of trichotillomania

Psychotherapy is useful because it increases the patient’s awareness and promotes the development of stress resistance. The problem with trichotillomania is that if it is not treated, it poses a big problem for a person - baldness, the treatment of which sometimes becomes a difficult task. As a rule, after consultation with an endocrinologist, various hormonal ointments and other drugs may be prescribed.

Sometimes trichotillomania goes away on its own. This happens in children or in those who have gotten rid of a source of stress.

In general, based on the frequency with which the patient tears his hair, 3 stages of the disorder can be distinguished:

Transitional – occurs only during periods of severe stress and disappears completely after the cessation of the stressful event; usually occurs in childhood and disappears spontaneously.

Episodic – occurs episodically, every time during a stressful event.

Chronic – the patient cuts his hair every day, sometimes at night.

What is trichotillomania

Trichotillomania is a disorder of psychosomatic origin that causes a person to have a desire and an “extreme need” to play with hair and pull out tufts from the head. It is associated with psychological trauma from childhood or traumatic events in adult life, meaning it can affect both children and adults.

In adulthood, the disorder manifests itself mainly in women, while in childhood it more often affects men; to date, this difference has not yet been explained.

Trichotillomania is a condition that occurs primarily in children and adolescents . The age range of those affected in children ranges from 2 to 6 years, but most often these are transient episodes that disappear over time and therefore should not cause any particular problems.

In primary school and adolescence, the phenomenon becomes more alarming. Typically, the onset of trichotillomania coincides with the onset of puberty, during which the child experiences many changes, both on a physical level (for example, the appearance of menstruation in women and changes in voice in men) and on a social level (the transition from primary school to secondary school). , For example).

It is not uncommon for trichotillomania, not properly treated in childhood, to persist into adulthood, but there are situations in which the disorder manifests itself in adults as a result of a traumatic event.

Trichotillomania: victory is real

The disorder is quite difficult to treat for one simple reason - the patient with trichotillomania basically denies that he has a problem. He will disguise himself until the last moment, get angry, hide and “put on a good face on a bad game” until it becomes completely obvious that the person has problems. Therefore, if you realize that you are suffering from trichotillomania, or if you accidentally discover that someone close to you suffers from it, it is very important to seek help from a psychologist who can assess your overall condition and prescribe the most appropriate treatment.

Recently I met that same friend in the theater. Several years had passed since that incident in the kitchen, and she was no longer wearing a wig. On the short (but much longer than a crew cut) hair there was a ribbon that covered the place where, according to my recollections, there was that same bald spot where the hair stopped growing. She looked quite happy with life.

“This is my own hair,” she whispered to me during intermission, radiating joy and pride.

Happy for her, I asked permission to talk about her and trichotillomania, a disorder she once thought she could not cope with. And to those who are still struggling with this problem, she asked to convey:

“It is very important to understand one thing: it is impossible to wake up one day forever getting rid of a bad habit. Even if you have already had many unsuccessful attempts to cope with trichotillomania, you need to find the strength to take another chance, one more try. The main thing is not to be idle, not to be afraid to ask for help, and success will definitely be on your side.”

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