Trichotillomania -

Have you heard of trichotillomania; I just came across this interesting forms of mania. Trichotillomania has to be pronounced as tree-ko-tillo-mania - just pronounce as you read it. The word origins are traced back to Greek. "Tricha" is hair in Greek and "tillein" again in Greek means to pull or pluck. Therefore Trichotillomania can be etymologically defined as, hair pulling mania. Many of us have this symptom in varying degrees of seriousness, it is an impulse control disorder which is marked by compulsive urge to pluck or pull hair from scalp, eyebrows, beard, facial hair, eyelashes, nose hair or pubic hair. This disorder in the advanced stages can lead to loss of hair in the scalp leading to self create baldness. Trichotillomania or TTM as commmonly refered sets in at early adoloscence. This is a chronic problem with no known cure. If at all any cure can be achieved it has to be through behavioural changes and through habit reversal training and conditioning. This can lead to depression because the affected individual thinks that he or she is the only one who has been affected by this problem as the reporting rate is much much lower than any other psychological conditions.