Disentangling Family Life and Hair Pulling: Trichotillomania and Relatedness

ABSTRACT

Trichotillomania (hair pulling) remains a relatively unknown form of body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB). Sufferers tend to conceal both the action and its effects from others because of stigmatization, which is strong in both public and domestic spheres. Negative responses from close family members can add significantly to the suffering. Based on fieldwork in the United Kingdom and United States, we explore how hair pulling troubles ties even among close family members. We show why ethnographic methods reveal impacts of hair pulling that structured assessments do not yet capture and argue for a more nuanced study of BFRBs through anthropologies of relatedness.

KEYWORDS:

• United Kingdom
• United States
• family relations
• hair pulling
• relatedness
• trichotillomania

Acknowledgments

We would like to express our gratitude to the people who contributed to this research and kindly shared their personal experiences with us. Special thanks to the TLC Foundation for body-focused repetitive behaviors for their ongoing support and cooperation. We would like to thank our colleagues at the University of Edinburgh for their feedback and comments on this article, in particular, thanks to Dr. Koreen Reece and professor Alexander Edmonds. This research project received ethical approval from the University of Edinburgh’s Ethics Board in June 2015.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh [Graduate School Scholarship [2 years] 2015].

Notes on contributors

Bridget Bradley

Bridget Bradley is a PhD candidate in Social Anthropology at The University of Edinburgh. Her current doctorate research is an ethnography of people living with BFRBs in the United Kingdom and United States. She is also involved in advocacy work within the BFRB community in the United Kingdom.

Stefan Ecks

Stefan Ecks is cofounder of the Medical Anthropology Programme and a senior lecturer in Social Anthropology at The University of Edinburgh. He has been working on mental health and psychiatry in India. Recent publications include the monograph Eating Drugs: Psychopharmaceutical Pluralism in India (New York, 2013).