BFRB Awareness Week: What Does It Actually Mean?

In support of BFRB awareness week, I thought I'd go into the more medical side of things for once and give an insight into the category in which trichotillomania is placed. BFRB stands for 'body-focused repetitive behaviours' and broadly covers all disorders which display these characteristics. Rather than mild habits or 'tics' (such as picking your nails every now and then), these disorders focus on touching the body and/or hair in ways which are incredibly damaging; they have more extreme consequences than the mannerisms which people are most used to seeing. Rather than just being habits, there is a deeply complex emotional root in these BFRBs which needs treating in some way. The emotional trauma and physical damage these disorders can cause make them something dangerous to undermine and hurtful to minimise the severity of.

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My Personal Experiences With Therapy For Trichotillomania

Although I've written about different therapies which are available to help trichotillomania, I thought this post would give a (hopefully) useful insight into my personal experiences with them; which ones worked, which parts of each therapy I liked, and which ones were just plain rubbish. If you don't through the NHS (most therapies have to be paid for privately), exploring your options can get quite pricey; I hope this post can help point any sufferers in the right direction or at least help making therapy-based decisions a little clearer before jumping into something. These aren't necessarily a cure (there is no known cure for the disorder), but they can help make life that little bit easier and strengthen your ability to reflect upon the disorder, your behaviour and how you manage life with trichotillomania.

7 Ways To Treat Trichotillomania (And Make Your Life A Little Easier)

The tiniest amount of research online will enlighten you to the sad fact that, currently, there is no cure for trichotillomania. It may be disheartening to think that the cycle of pulling will seemingly never end, and, trust me, I've torn myself up over the idea of being stuck with this horrid disorder for life. However, hope is not all lost. Despite there being no magic wand you can wave and make those urges to pull instantly disappear, there are numerous ways to help control those feelings. Many people have wonderful success stories of going pull-free, so don't think that it's totally unachievable. So, if you're looking for potential ways to treat, stop and control trichotillomania, this post is for you.