Christina's Blog

Good morning World!

Got lots to do today, but am working to remind myself to post more often on my blog. It’s a lot of fun to have a blog I am finding!

Okay, here’s today’s news that is going to go out by Elert, but I wanted to mention it also – because here I can actually comment on it.

Finally, at long last, trichotillomania is “a disorder of interest” and is moving higher on the radar at NIH’s National Institute of Mental Health.

The link with a bit more information is at the bottom of this post.

 Now here’s what I want to comment on!

What an upstream swim this has been! When I started TLC almost 20 years ago, I actually thought we would be where we are today after about 3-4 years of existence. 

I knew the sufferers were out there, I knew it was a complex disorder, that if better understood, would shed light on other problems, and I knew I had the fortitude to get things going.

But Good God, it has taken a lot longer than I assumed. Why? I think there are manyreasons, but I used to feel that I just wasn’t doing a good enough job. Talk about a dose of grandiosity… but I do tend to be egocentric, especially in taking on perceived burdens and then flagellating myself when things don’t move fast enough.

It is only when I step outside my own “stuff” that the bigger picture emerges with some clarity. The archetypal species-wide assumption of shame and sorrow that is attached to hair pulling and skin picking…   kind of like the big elephant in the social livingroom kind of stuff that no-one really wants to deal with.

 There’s a subconscious tendency to sweep this awareness “under the rug.”  Problem is, the lump under the rug just keeps getting bigger, and at some point, needs to be dealt with.

Which brings a story from my childhood – there was a period of time my own Mom, when in a rush, would actually do just that. Sweep the dirt on the floor under the nearest rug. Go figure! My sister and I were so embarassed and would have died of mortification if anyone found out.

My Mom was a brilliant woman, and also suffered from severe depression among other problems. There were days when she could not get out of bed, and later in life she commented to me that there were times she was certifiably “crazy” but no-one did anything about it.

It took me years to learn to clean appropriately, and I am still not very domestic. But I did learn one thing: It doesn’t work to simply rearrange the dirt, it needs to be shook out, disposed of, washed up.

I am rambling here, but it just feels good to have trich coming out from “under the rug.”  It’s always been here, just not very acknowledged.

So today is a very good day.

Here’s the link to the announcement on an NIMH webpage:

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/organization/ddtr/developmental-trajectories-of-mental-disorders-branch/trajectories-of-behavioral-dysregulation-program.shtml

So have a great day, and remember  – we are all in this together!

Love to all, Christina