Letting Go of the Pull: Trichotillomania Recovery Stories

Inside this volume

Fifty first-person accounts describe trichotillomania, or hair-pulling disorder. Writers describe how it began, often in childhood or the early teens, and the forms it took: bald patches on the scalp, eyelashes gone by fifteen, eyebrows, beards, chest and arm hair; pulling in a truck cab, in meetings, half asleep, and out of boredom as often as stress. There is the hiding — the eyebrow pencil, the hat, the headscarf, the short haircut, the hairdresser who noticed — and the relief of learning it had a name and that others had it too. Writers describe courses of habit reversal training, therapy by video call from remote places, fidget tools, gloves and cheap tricks that did the job, antidepressants that did little, and N-acetylcysteine that helped modestly, reported with care. Some stopped for years and then relapsed; some set a goal that was not zero; others pull less and have made peace with not stopping entirely. Contributors include men, a nursing student, the mother of a child with a bald patch, a woman who first told her doctor at seventy-one, and families where it runs. Later chapters cover pregnancy, menopause, wigs, partners, telling a boss, and helping others.

Who it's for

For anyone who pulls and has never told a soul, parents who have just found a bald patch, partners learning what to say, and clinicians who want to hear how differently treatment lands for each person.

Format · Instant download · PDF & EPUB · Fifty first-person accounts · PDF: 249 pages

A collection of personal testimony, offered as companion reading — not medical advice.

• 50 single-author testimonies from real people
• A short, plain-language introduction to the topic
• Editor's note, contents page, and curated resource list
• Professional interior typesetting and an original cover

Every purchase includes a print-quality PDF (best for desktop, tablet, and printing) and a reflowable EPUB (best for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, and phones). Files are DRM-free. You can download both instantly from the order-confirmation screen, and we email them to your inbox as well, so your books are always within reach.