Trichotillomania, Compulsive Skin Picking, and the Resistor’s High

Jon Hershfield, MA, of the OCD Center of Los Angeles discusses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for the treatment of Trichotillomania (compulsive hair pulling) and Dermatillomania (compulsive skin picking, or CSP).

My wife and I recently became vegetarians.  Well, she started using the word “vegetarian” to describe already never eating meat.  For me it required more of a lifestyle change.  I grew up on a small beef cattle farm, so I was used to the idea that you could grow meat the same way you grow vegetables.  Throughout my life it always felt as if meat was how one defined the difference between a “snack” and a “meal”.  So as part health experiment and part social consciousness attempt, I have given up meat for the time being.

At first I felt like I was denying myself something purely enjoyable.  I’m used to it, I like it, so why don’t I just do it?  Saying, “I want to change” or “I’m not happy with the consequences” doesn’t seem to be much comfort.  However, nearly 4 months into this experiment, I now get what can only be described as a “resistor’s high” – an addictive satisfaction derived from choosing not to eat meat. › Continue reading

Tags: Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Compulsive Skin Picking, Dermatillomania, Hair Pulling, Health, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Skin Picking, Trichotillomania

Proposed DSM-5 Changes for OCD and Anxiety Disorders

There have long been rumblings that the American Psychiatric Association (APA) was undertaking a thorough review of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV).  The ostensible goal of such a review would be to create a more accurate and in-depth edition of the DSM, which was last updated in 1994.

After ten years of ongoing debate, the numerous APA work groups investigating potential revisions to various diagnoses and categories to be included in a planned fifth edition have presented their suggestions to the APA.  Some of these changes are likely to be as controversial as current classifications in the DSM-IV, while others will pass barely noticed into the new DSM-5 (for example, the switch away from Roman numerals in the title).  A number of these proposed changes directly impact conditions treated here at the OCD Center of Los Angeles.  To wit: › Continue reading

Tags: American Psychiatric Association, Anxiety, APA, Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), Compulsive Skin Picking, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, DSM-5, DSM-IV, Health, Hypochondria / Health Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Olfactory Reference Syndrome, Panic Disorder, Trichotillomania

New Trichotillomania Research

For individuals who suffer with Trichotillomania, the urge to pull their own hair can be overwhelming.  While this might seem to many like a bizarre, self-destructive behavior, to those with Trichotillomania, this powerful urge can leave them with large bald spots on their scalp, no eyebrows, or no eyelashes.

Fortunately, researchers are starting to learn more about the origin of the disorder and possible treatments.  One recent study conducted at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine in Minneapolis has uncovered a promising potential avenue for future treatment of this condition. › Continue reading

Tags: Amino Acid, Compulsive Skin Picking, Dermatillomania, Duke University, Hair Pulling, N-Acetylcysteine, Nail Biting, Onychophagia, Skin Picking, Trichotillomania, University of Minnesota