Monday, September 8, 2008

Cause of Trichotillomania
By: michel@orientinfosolutions.com

The term "trichotillomania" comes from the Greek words "thrix," meaning "hair" and "tillein" meaning "to pull" and "mania," the Greek word for "madness" or "frenzy". As the name suggests trichotillomania is a psychiatric condition in which an individual has an uncontrollable urge to pull out his or her own body hair. For people suffering from trichotillomania, hair pulling is more than a habit. It is rather a compulsive behavior, which the person finds very hard to stop. The cause of tricholomania is supposed to be the imbalance of chemicals in the human brain.

People with trichotillomania pull their hair out of the root from places like the scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes, or even the pubic area. Some people even pull handfuls of hair, which can leave bald patches on the scalp or eyebrows. Other people pull out their hair one strand at a time. Some inspect the strands after pulling them out or play with the hair after it's been pulled. About half of people with this condition also have the habit of putting the plucked hair in mouth.

Trichotillomania has been mentioned as a disorder in very early historical records. But clinically the condition trichotillomania was first described in 1889 by the French physician Francois Hallopeau. The condition is rare - statistics show it affects only 1% to 3% of the population, although new research suggests that the rate of hair pulling may be around 10% or higher.

Trichotillomania affects about twice as many girls as boys. Most people who have trichotillomania develop the condition during adolescence. However, it can start when a person is as young as 1 year old.

Trichotillomania is often the cause for embarrassment, frustration, shame, or depression for those people affected with the disorder. Those people also suffer from low self-esteem. They usually try to hide their behavior from others. Because of this fact, social alienation is common in trichotillomania patients. Moreover, the patients also try to cover patches of balding scalp by wearing wigs, hats, scarves or hair clips, or by applying make-up or even by tattooing..

Cause of tricholomania
Doctors don't know much about the cause of trichotillomania. It is believed that genetics plays a major role. The compulsive behavior like trichotillomania can sometimes run in families. Some psychiatrists think it might be related to OCD since OCD and trichotillomania are both anxiety disorders. This is one reason why the impulses that lead to hair pulling can be stronger when a person is stressed out or worried.

Experts think that the actual cause of tricholomania is the imbalance of chemicals in the brain. These chemicals, called neurotransmitters are part of the brain's communication center. When something interferes with how neurotransmitters work it can cause problems like compulsive behaviors.

Since trichotillomania is a medical condition, it's not something most people can just stop doing when they feel like it. People with trichotillomania usually need help from medical experts before they can stop. With the right help, though, most people overcome their hair-pulling urges. This help may involve therapy, medication, or a combination of both.

There are therapies in which special behavior techniques are used to help people recognize the urge to pull hair before the urge becomes too strong to resist. The patient learns ways to resist the urge so that the urge becomes weaker and then goes away.

Many people find it helpful to keep their hands busy with a different activity (like squeezing a stress ball or drawing) during times when the urge of pulling hair is strong. Even activities like knitting while watching TV seems to help.

About The Author:
Michel Waugh is a practicing psychiatrist. He has written several articles in many medical journals discussing and pointing out the cause of trichotillomania. For more information please visit: www.hairdiseases.com

Because disorders that are ego dystonic go against an individuals perception of hisherself, they tend to cause much distress. Also, the psychological selfawareness of the irrationality of the disorder can be painful. These symptoms are also experienced in a reversed manner. To others, these tasks may appear odd and unnecessary.

The most common conditions that resemble OCD are the tic disorders Tourettes disorder and other motor and vocal tic disorders. Thus a child may have checking rituals, while his mother washes compulsively. In order to send chemical messages, serotonin must bind to the receptor sites located on the neighboring nerve cell. People with OCD often say the symptoms feel like a case of mental hiccups that wont go away. The diagnosis is made based on an assessment of the persons symptoms. Performing these behaviors usually only makes the nervous feelings go away for a short time. The treatment involves therapy sessions aimed both at reducing OCD symptoms and were 47 less likely to exhibit side effects. The study showed that their symptoms were quite similar to their American and European counterparts.

When the thalamus receives this signal, it in turn sends signals back to the OFC to interpret the worrying event. All children have worries and doubts. Rapid remission of OCD with tramadol hydrochloride. Sometimes these thoughts just come once in a while and are only mildly annoying. In addition to this, the treatment usually requires high doses. Only when symptoms persist, make no sense, cause much distress, or interfere with functioning do they need clinical attention. However, unless depression isnbsp present, people with OCD continued to suffer, despite years of ineffective psychotherapy. The new bill will require insurance companies to provide equal coverage of mental and physical illnesses. They genetically engineered mice that lacked a gene called SAPAP.

The primary symptoms found in this study were cleanliness and washing, hoarding, symmetry and checking. The person does not want to have these ideas. Person who has OCD may have obsessive thoughts about germs. Unlike compulsive drinking or gambling, OCD compulsions do not give the person pleasure. He nbspfinds them disturbing and intrusive, and usually recognizes that they dont really make sense. In consequence, however, of the childs control and different from normal thoughts. It appears to be caused by acomplex combination of inherited biological and learned psychological factors.