“Styles of pulling in youths with trichotillomania: Exploring differences in symptom severity, phenomenology, and comorbid psychiatric symptoms”

My first academic resource, by members of the “Trichotillomania Learning Center-Scientific Advisory Board”(TLC-SAB), discusses a study examining differences in trich severity, phenomenology, comorbid psychiatric symptoms, and functional impact across youths with varying degrees of the disorder. Through the use of an internet survey, individuals between the ages of 10 and 17 years old with chronic hair pulling disorders were asked to participate in order to be assessed as “high-focused” or “low focused,” and either “high-automatic” or “low-automatic” based upon their results.

I decided this would be a beneficial resource since I actually took the survey online at the beginning of the semester (as it is still up). Granted I’m outside the age span, it’s still interesting to read about their results as they may, or may not, pertain to me. It’s also an interesting piece as it pertains to one of the nations most highly regarded research centers for TTM disorder right here on the Milwaukee campus!

Researchers concluded, “Results demonstrated significant differences between pulling styles. More specifically, "high-focused" pullers reported more severe TTM and greater symptoms of anxiety and depression than "low-focused" pullers, and "high-automatic" pullers reported greater symptoms of depression than "low-automatic" pullers. Subsequent analyses suggest that, in comparison to youths with low levels of both automatic and focused pulling, those experiencing high levels of focused pulling but low levels of automatic pulling reported phenomenological differences and were more likely to engage in additional repetitive behaviors (i.e., skin picking, lip/cheek biting)”(TLC-SAB 1).

It’s interesting to understand the detailed differences in disorder for something as “simple” as removing a hair. Knowing now that “high-focused” = More severe TTM/Greater symptoms of anxiety and depression, than “low-automatic” pullers, “low-focused/low-automatic” = Less pulling overall, and “high-focused/low-automatic” = Reported phenomenological differences and more likely to engage in additional repetitive behaviors, will really help support a majority of my thoughts. All the results of this experiment are really saying is the more “conscious” the puller is of his or her actions, the higher level of severity. This may seem obvious, but for all intensive purposes, I’ve needed a reference like this to back up my essay with a well-regarded source, supported by actual research.

Flessner, Christopher A., et al. "Styles of pulling in youths with trichotillomania: Exploring differences in symptom severity, phenomenology, and comorbid psychiatric symptoms." Behaviour Research & Therapy 46 Issue 9 (2008): 1055- 61. (TLC-SAB)