Chan Hampton's condition is known as Trichotillomania. It is a BFRB, Body Focused Repetitive Behavior, like skin picking or nail biting, except it's hair pulling. Trichotillomania, or Trich for short, can affect an individual to where they pull from the scalp, brows, lashes, or other parts with hair. Personally, this affects me with my lashes and brows. People with trich often feel ashamed of having this condition and may try various ways to hide it like with head scarves, makeup, or wigs. It is often seen as a type of Obsessive Compulsive disorder as individuals may experience having a difficult time trying to stop, and may become focused on pulling particular strands, or a certain number of strands. The disorder tends to be triggered by other conditions like anxiety and depression. When in distress a person may pull as some sort of coping mechanism. Trichotillomania can be the result of automatic or focused pulling. Automatic hair-pulling is done without the person realizing they're doing it, and Focused-pulling is done when the person is aware of the action. This condition can leave the sufferer feeling low-self esteem and although the pulling may help them during their time of distress, it is a double edged sword because after the pull, the person tends to feel pretty low and the relief from pulling is also temporary. This results in a cycle where these actions and feelings are repeated. A good way to control Trichotillomania is through CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy). CBT is important because it helps to teach people how to properly handle certain situations and they can learn methods that may help them specifically. It also teaches that it's okay to relapse, but that it's important to learn good habits so that they can replace the bad ones.
When hearing about someone that pulls their hair out, some people might think "Why don't you just stop?" Unfortunately, it's not that easy. Like I said before, Trich is a Body-Focused Repetitive Behavior and it's like an OCD.
Before TrichStop therapy, She would put herself down but now she is able to accept that she is beautiful and that this relapse is temporary. She is now able to love & accept herself.
