Trichotillomania: Hair Pulling Disorder Support & Recovery

Trichotillomania: Hair Pulling Disorder Support & Recovery Struggling with trichotillomania or hair pulling disorder? You are not alone. BACP therapist Paula Sweet offers CBT & hypnotherapy for trich & BFRB recovery.

Follow for daily support. Whatsapp to find out about the Trich recovery system.

You've just pulled.Maybe it was one hair.Maybe you've been pulling for 20 minutes before you suddenly realised what you ...
14/09/2026

You've just pulled.

Maybe it was one hair.

Maybe you've been pulling for 20 minutes before you suddenly realised what you were doing.

What happens next matters.

Because one of the most damaging patterns I see isn't just:

urge → pulling

It's:

pulling → guilt → shame → stress → more pulling**

So here's something I want you to practise.

If you catch yourself after pulling, don't immediately launch into:

“Why have I done that AGAIN?”

“I've ruined all my progress.”

“I'll never stop.”

Instead, get curious.

Ask yourself:

What just happened?

Where was I?

What was I doing?

Was this automatic or deliberate?

Was I looking for a particular hair?

Was I bored, stressed, tired, concentrating or overwhelmed?

What did pulling give me in that moment?

Then reset.

Move your hands.

Change position.

Stand up.

Leave the room if necessary.

Take a slow breath.

And carry on with your day.

One episode of pulling does NOT have to become an entire evening of pulling.

Progress with Trich isn't necessarily:

“I never experienced another urge.”

Sometimes progress looks like:

“I noticed sooner.”

“I stopped after five minutes instead of 30.”

“I recognised my trigger.”

“I interrupted myself.”

“I had an urge and didn't immediately respond.”

“I pulled, but I didn't spend the next hour attacking myself for it.”

Those changes matter.

Recovery isn't about becoming perfect.

It's about gradually changing what happens next. ❤️

So what actually IS the Trich Recovery System?Because it's definitely not 21 days of me telling you:“Don't pull your hai...
13/09/2026

So what actually IS the Trich Recovery System?

Because it's definitely not 21 days of me telling you:

“Don't pull your hair.”

I created the programme because I wanted people struggling with Trichotillomania to have something structured to follow.

Rather than collecting hundreds of tips from TikTok, Google and Facebook and wondering which one you're supposed to try next, we work through the problem step by step.

Across the 21 days, we explore things such as:

🧠 Understanding your individual habit loop

🔎 Recognising triggers and patterns

⏸️ Creating a pause between urge and action

✋ Interrupting automatic pulling

🙌 Retraining what your hands automatically do

🌬️ Nervous-system regulation and managing stress

❤️ Shame and self-criticism

😟 Anxiety and emotional triggers

🪞 Confidence and identity

🔁 Managing setbacks without deciding you're “back at square one”

📋 Creating a longer-term plan for maintaining progress

Each day includes guidance from me alongside a hypnosis recording designed to complement that day's therapeutic focus.

One thing I want to be very clear about:

I don't promise that you'll magically stop pulling in 21 days.

Trichotillomania is more complex than that, and I'd never want to sell it as an instant cure.

The 21 days are about giving you a structured starting point: understanding the behaviour, learning tools, practising different responses and beginning to change the patterns that have often been around for years.

And you have lifetime access, so you can revisit the programme rather than feeling pressured to “get it right” first time.

If you'd like information about joining the Trich Recovery System, comment INFO below or send me a private message and I'll explain how it works. ❤️

Paula x

12/09/2026

Your hair isn't the only evidence that you're making progress. ❤️

When someone desperately wants their hair to grow back, it's completely understandable that they'll keep looking for physical evidence of recovery.

But hair growth takes time.
Behavioural change can be happening before you can see it in the mirror.

Progress might be:
✔️ Noticing your hand sooner
✔️ Pulling for 5 minutes rather than 30
✔️ Recognising a trigger
✔️ Interrupting an urge occasionally
✔️ Becoming more aware of where you pull
✔️ Having fewer prolonged pulling episodes
✔️ Responding to yourself with less shame afterwards

Those things count.

One exercise I often encourage is to stop recording only “pulled/didn't pull” and start recording what you noticed and what changed.

That gives us far more useful information.

🎥 I've talked more about this in today's video because I think it's something people with Trich really need to hear.

What's one SMALL change you've noticed recently?

It doesn't need to be perfect to be progress. ❤️

Here's a simple Trich exercise I want you to try today.Think about your top three pulling locationsNot emotional trigger...
12/09/2026

Here's a simple Trich exercise I want you to try today.

Think about your top three pulling locations

Not emotional triggers, actual physical places.

For example:

🛏️ In bed

🛋️ On the sofa watching TV

🚗 Sitting in the car

💻 At your desk

📱 Scrolling on your phone

🪞 In front of the mirror

Then ask yourself:

What is it about that situation that makes pulling easier?

Perhaps you're tired.

Your hands are free.

You're concentrating.

You're bored.

You're alone.

There's a mirror nearby.

You're searching for a particular type of hair.

Or you simply spend long periods there and your hand automatically finds its way towards your hair.

Now choose ONE environment and change something.

For example, if scrolling in bed is a major pulling situation, could you hold your phone with both hands?

If television is a trigger, could you keep something tactile beside you for your hands?

If mirrors trigger searching, could you reduce the amount of close-up checking you do?

This isn't about avoiding life.

It's about making an unconscious pattern slightly less easy to perform.

Sometimes people focus so heavily on trying to control the urge that they completely overlook the environment in which the behaviour keeps happening.

So I'm curious…

Where does most of your pulling happen?

Comment below you might be surprised how many people have exactly the same answer. 👇

I thought I'd properly introduce myself because there are quite a few new faces here. 👋I'm Paula Sweet, a BACP-registere...
11/09/2026

I thought I'd properly introduce myself because there are quite a few new faces here. 👋

I'm Paula Sweet, a BACP-registered therapist, qualified counsellor, CBT therapist and clinical hypnotherapist.

Through my practice, Absolute Mind and with my online programmes, I've spent years helping people understand behaviours and emotional patterns that can feel incredibly difficult to change.

And Trichotillomania is an area I'm particularly passionate about because I see just how misunderstood it can be.

People are often told:

“Just stop pulling.”

“Keep your hands busy.”

“Wear a hat.”

“Surely you know you're doing it?”

But if it were genuinely that simple, you probably wouldn't still be struggling.

Hair pulling can involve habit, sensory experiences, emotions, environmental triggers, automatic behaviours, focused urges and learned patterns.

And different people pull for completely different reasons.

That's why my approach isn't about one magic technique.

I combine therapeutic understanding with practical strategies to help people:

🧠 Understand their individual pulling patterns

🔎 Identify triggers and high-risk situations

✋ Interrupt automatic behaviours

🌬️ Learn different ways of responding to urges

❤️ Reduce the shame and self-criticism that can surround Trich

🔁 Build new responses through repetition

🎧 And use hypnosis alongside the practical work to support relaxation, awareness and behavioural change.

This is also why I created my 21-day Trich Recovery System to give people a structured way of actually working through this rather than endlessly Googling “how do I stop pulling my hair?”

I'll keep sharing plenty of the tools I teach here too, so even if you're not ready for the full programme, stick around.

There's lots more coming. ❤️

Paula x

11/09/2026

✋ Try this the next time you catch your hand in your hair.

Don't panic.
Don't tell yourself off.
Don't make another promise that you'll “never do it again”.

Instead, try a 10-second hand reset.
Remove your hand from your hair and deliberately give your hands another job for just ten seconds.

You could:
🤲 Press your palms together
☕ Hold a mug
🪑 Grip the edge of your chair
🙌 Clasp your hands together
🧘 Place your hands underneath your thighs

Then take one slow breath.

You're not trying to prove that you can make the urge disappear.

You're practising something much smaller:
NOTICE → INTERRUPT → REDIRECT

And if your hand goes back up again?
Notice again.
Reset again.

Every time you become aware of an automatic behaviour, you have another opportunity to practise a different response.
🎥 Watch today's video and try it with me.

Save this post somewhere you can come back to it when you need it. ❤️

If you notice the urge to pull today, try this instead of immediately fighting with yourself.I call it the Urge Pause.Th...
10/09/2026

If you notice the urge to pull today, try this instead of immediately fighting with yourself.

I call it the Urge Pause.

The aim isn't to demand that the urge disappears.

It's simply to put a little bit of time between noticing the urge and automatically responding to it.

When you notice your hand moving towards your hair:

🌬️ Breathe in gently through your nose for 4

⏸️ Pause for 2

🌬️ Slowly breathe out for 6

Then notice:

Where can I feel this urge?

Maybe there's tension in your fingers.

Restlessness.

A particular sensation around your scalp.

Or perhaps you've realised there wasn't actually a strong physical urge at all, your hand simply wandered there while you were watching TV, scrolling or thinking.

Now deliberately place your hands somewhere else.

Under your thighs.
Around a mug.
Holding a cushion.
Playing with a fidget.
Anything that changes what your hands are doing.

You haven't “failed” if the urge is still there.

You're practising something incredibly important:

Notice → Pause → Choose

Rather than:

Urge → Pull

Try it today and see what you notice.

And if you do pull afterwards, don't turn it into a reason to criticise yourself. We're interested in practising the pause, not achieving perfection.

❤️ Save this one for the next time an urge hits.

09/09/2026

Do you sometimes suddenly realise your hand is in your hair… but other times you’re very aware that you’re searching for a particular hair?

This is something that can be really useful to understand.
Hair pulling can be more automatic, happening with very little awareness while you’re watching TV, scrolling, reading or concentrating.

Or it can be more focused, where there’s a conscious urge, searching behaviour or desire to find a particular hair.
And many people experience a mixture of BOTH.
Why does this matter?

Because if we don't understand how your pulling is happening, it's much harder to know which strategies might actually help.

So rather than setting yourself the impossible task of:

❌ “I must not pull today.”

Try something different:
👉 Every time you notice pulling today, ask yourself: was that automatic or focused?

No judgement. You're gathering information.
The more you understand your individual Trich pattern, the more opportunities you have to start responding differently.

🎥 I explain the difference in today's video.
I'd love to know, which type sounds most like you? Automatic, focused or a mixture of both?

“Why do I keep doing it when I KNOW I don’t want to?”This is one of the biggest frustrations I hear from people struggli...
09/09/2026

“Why do I keep doing it when I KNOW I don’t want to?”

This is one of the biggest frustrations I hear from people struggling with Trichotillomania.

You can promise yourself you’re going to stop.

You can tell yourself, “That’s it. No more pulling.”

And then later you suddenly realise your hand is in your hair again.

That’s because hair pulling often isn’t a fully conscious decision.

Over time, your brain can learn a sequence:

Trigger → urge → pulling → some form of relief, stimulation or satisfaction

And the more often that sequence happens, the more automatic it can become.

That’s why simply telling yourself to “stop pulling” often isn’t enough.

We need to start understanding YOUR pattern.

Try this today:

Every time you notice yourself pulling — or wanting to pull — quickly ask:

👉 Where am I?
👉 What am I doing?
👉 What was I feeling just before it?
👉 Was I actually aware my hand had moved towards my hair?

No judgement. No telling yourself off.

Just gather information.

Because the more we understand the pattern, the more opportunities we have to interrupt it.

This is something we work on throughout my Trich Recovery System, not simply trying to force the pulling away, but understanding what's driving it and building practical ways to respond differently.

If you've been blaming yourself for not having enough willpower, it's time to try a different approach. ❤️

I offer two different 21-day routes for trich now, and I get asked often which one to choose, so here's the honest break...
03/09/2026

I offer two different 21-day routes for trich now, and I get asked often which one to choose, so here's the honest breakdown.

The Trichotillomania Recovery System combines CBT, habit reversal training, and hypnotherapy. It's the full system, daily structure, practical tools, and homework alongside the hypnosis. It's the right fit if you want an active, hands-on approach and you're ready to do some work between sessions.

Hypnotherapy For Trichotillomania is hypnosis only, no CBT, no habit reversal homework, no worksheets. Just a short daily audio session. It's the right fit if the idea of tracking and tasks feels like too much right now, and you want something calm and simple that still works with the subconscious patterns behind the pulling.

Neither one is the "better" option, they're built for different people, and both are 21 days because consistency over that stretch is what actually creates change.

Not sure which fits you? Message me and tell me a bit about where you're at, I'll tell you honestly which one I'd point you towards.

https://academy.absolutemind.co.uk/courses/manage-trichotillomania-21-days-to-confidence

https://academy.absolutemind.co.uk/courses/hypnotherapy-for-trichotillomania

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Guildford Avenue
Milton Keynes
MK44JZ

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