Trichotillomania can lead to baldness and obviously can cause great pain and suffering in its victims. So how in the world can this weird disorder be caused by brain chemistry? We can’t say for sure but you must realize that the brain controls every aspect of your behavior and therefore anything you can imagine could indeed be a symptom if the brain becomes affected by a chemical imbalance.
It appears this particular condition has a genetic link and medication treatment can be effective, in particular those meds that act on the neurotransmitter Serotonin. See the ‘Advice from Dr D’ under ‘Chemical Imbalance’ for a story from a victim of this disorder.
I’ve treated several patients with this rare disorder and my drug of choice for the condition is Luvox. This med also works for social anxiety disorder (anxiety in social settings) as well as OCD. There are also some therapies that appear to work but my choice is to use the meds first because they work more quickly to stop the trauma and pain.
Once those symptoms are under control then therapy can be used to gain understanding and refocus the behavior. I’ve had good success with just the med and like some other conditions in psychiatry, patient preference will play a huge role when making the decison on how to treat. Some folks don’t have time for therapy while others just don’t want to take a pill.
Obviously I'm a huge advocate of medication for treating psych problems and many times it's mandatory. But in cases where psychotherapy is effective as well, I'll let the patient make the call.
Picture of Trichotillomania.........Obviously extremely painfull!!
