Hair loss at any age can be alarming, but a condition in children can leave parents extremely worried. One potential cause of children’s hair loss is trichotillomania, an impulse-control disorder in which the child tugs at and pulls out his/her own hair.
Trichotillomania in children can be very distressing for parents, especially as not all children will admit to their behaviour. The condition is often associated with feelings of embarrassment or shame, which is why so many instances of trichotillomania go unreported, undiagnosed and untreated.
The good news for parents is that depending on the child’s age, behaviours associated with trichotillomania will go away on their own and the hair should grow back. If the condition shows itself when the child is under five years old, it is considered to be self-limiting and the child will grow out of the behaviour in time. Intervention is not normally required.
For older children and in more serious, persistent cases of trichotillomania, a type of psychosocial therapy may be needed. This may be in the form of habit reversal training, which teaches the child to recognise the trigger or the impulse to pull hair and learn new responses to it. Some types of anti-depressant medication can also be prescribed, although its success in curing the condition has not been fully proven.