What are the latest advances in Trichotillomania?

Different shampoo and some medications are now being tried and tested.

Social media has certainly helped more people connect with each other. Health professionals are hearing more about it than before, and I see it referred to now as an impulse control disorder rather than a OCD. This can help treatment to be more aligned to what the issues actually are!

Medications can be used to treat trichotillomania. Treatment with clomipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant, was shown in a small double-blind study to improve symptoms, but results of other studies on clomipramine for treating trichotillomania have been inconsistent. Naltrexone may be a viable treatment. Fluoxetine and other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have limited usefulness in treating trichotillomania, and can often have significant side effects. Behavioral therapy has proven more effective when compared to fluoxetine or control groups. There is little research on the effectiveness of both behavioral therapy together with medication, and robust evidence from high-quality studies is lacking. Acetylcysteine treatment stemmed from an understanding of glutamate's role in regulation of impulse control.

Emily Kight, 27, from Philadelphia invented a topical lotion that she claims cured her condition. Others find the use of aversion therapy, such as Pavlok wearable devices, cured their disorder. The wearable is a bracelet with motion detection that vibrates if it notices you performing your behavior. It also has an optional electric shock with various strengths that are designed to train your brain to associate the act of rubbing or pulling with negative stimulus, rather than the relief that many afflicted feel after pulling out a hair. Other such awareness bracelets exist, such as Keen (HabitAware) and Slightly Robot, minus the electric shock.

Fidget toys and stress toys have become increasingly popular as well and help ease the urge to pull for many Trich sufferers.

Trichotillomania (TTM), or chronic hair pulling, is associated with significant levels of distress and impairment. Hair pulling alert bracelets are one of the latest developments to help people to stop pulling. Trichotillomania(TTM)Awareness and other help pages on Facebook were created to provide help with support from others suffering the same.

There isn't much work being done to discover more treatments, and most of the options out there are as good as it gets. The behaviour tracking bracelets (Pavlok, HabitAware, etc) can detect and alert you to your behaviour. Behavioural therapy can help detect triggers and help you develop coping mechanisms. The most recent research outcome was in 2012, which suggested movement decoupling (a type of therapy) as a potential treatment.

There are some studies out that have found the amygdala part of the brain as being perhaps a part of trich. NAC testing has shown some improvement for hair pullers when on the supplement, and Chicago University in conjunction with TLC and Dr. John Grant, they are researching our structure of our brains compared to other folks without the disorder.

There are several advances in the field of research. Emily Kight, last year, the biomedical engineer researcher started work on a conditioner based remedy for her disorder as part of a school project and remarkably has been able to cure her hairpulling.