If you're a My Life on the D-List fan like myself, you probably had your first experience with trichotillomania on that series. Tom, Kathy Griffin's tour manager, compulsively pulled his eyelashes out. Now, a few years later, Olivia Munn has admitted that she, too, goes for the lashes to deal with whatever's bothering her. She went on to admit that whenever she leaves the house, she has to buy a new set of falsies at the drugstore. She claims her habit is more annoying than it is painful and says that moving around a lot as a kid -- Air Force brat and all -- gave her anxiety that's evidently manifested itself in this disorder.
The Mayo Clinic doesn't know exactly what causes trichotillomania or how to treat it, so yeah. Just one of those things. Science, huh.
I don't know, I guess a lot of us look at Olivia, and hell, even Tom, and think that their lives are so awesome -- who doesn't want to be Olivia? who doesn't want to hang out with Kathy Griffin? -- but they have anxiety, and anxiety disorders, too. Sometimes it's nice to see their human side.
Do you have anxiety? How do you deal with it?
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Comments 8
My niece does that. She's also pulls out her eyebrows. She's been doing it for 4 years. She's 13 now.
I am almost 32 and was first diagnosed with this at 20, after years of hair pulling. Meditation, therapy and medication can help, but it never really goes away, that urge to pull. I personally am a hair from the head puller for the most part, and fortuante to have extremely thick hair, making it easier to hide, but after so long, the bald spots are there. You have to treat trichotillomania like any other chronic condition, day by day. A diabetic needs to take their meds and avoid sweets and be more active, I need to take my meds, try to relax and try to keep myself distractred from pulling. It can be hard, especially when people comment on my hair a lot. these are positive comments, mostly of the "you have lovely hair, you shouldn't wear it up all the time" type, which i know is a sign that people mean well, but sometimes you just don't feel like explaining that the constant bun and headband combo isn't just a look, but rather a combined effort to hide the effects of pulling and make my hair hard enough to get to that I find another way to deal with my anxiety
I have had this disorder since about 5th grade, so around 12 years old. I am 20 now and still struggle not to pull out my hair. My eyelashes and eyebrows are the most aggressively pulled at, i havent really had many eyelashes or eyebrows since highschool, but my hair has been the lastest victim. I also find that putting my hair in a bun with a thick hairband is the best way to hide it..otherwise I just try to wear it down since after a while it does show through. It is frustrating and embarrasing and I honestly thought I wouldnt ever hear of many other people having the anxiety.
@MissMamaBear, please just don't tell him it drives you "insane." Trust me, even when we pullers are pulling on auto pilot, we are aware of our akward disorder, and are painfully self conscious of it. It may annoy you to see it happening, but being unable to keep yourself from doing something so destructive and painful and misunderstood makes you feel bad enough without the people in your life telling you how annoying of a habit it seems to be. The anxiety caused by someone telling me they are noticing me pulling or that i should stop etc. always results in me pulling more, and it often can make a puller start trying to do the behaviour in secret, because they feel ashamed and watched. It is ok to tell your husband you are concerned, but be careful of the phrasing, this is not simply an annoying habit, but a real problem