The Trich Prof

I'm Clare Mackay, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Oxford, and I have had trichotillomania (hair-pulling disorder) since I was 12 years old. I lived with this disorder as my secret shame for nearly 40 years, but now the shame has gone, and I'm setting out to understand why I - and a surprisingly large number of others - have uncontrollable urges to pull out our hair. I'll share my own story as well as all sorts of things that I learn along the way. I want everyone with hair-pulling disorder - as well as other body-focused-repetitive-disorders (e.g. skin picking and nail biting) to know that we're not to blame and we're not alone.