It’s Trichotillomania.

When Anxiety and OCD make you pull your hair out.

We’ve all heard it or have said it:

I’m so stressed/worried/frustrated that I’m pulling my hair out!

My son suffers from trichotillomania.

What a freakin’ long word.

(trik-o-til-o-MAY-nee-uh)

For those of you who don’t suffer from this, it is the compulsion to pull your hair out. Oftentimes, it is due to anxiety…and sometimes the sufferer has a history of OCD. Only 1–2% of adults and adolescents even have this condition; my son won this jackpot.

In the Beginning

It first began in early 2015 when he was a 6th grader. I received an email at work letting me know that he had pulled out some of his hair; the teacher found some hair on the desk where he was sitting.

I thought it was odd to receive such an email. A little hair, no big deal. I wasn’t prepared, though, to see the full extent. Pulling through the carline at school dismissal, I see my boy walking briskly to the car; and my eyes take in the full scope of what has happened. Tears fight to be released, yet I desperately attempt to hold them in.