I believe that together, we CAN achieve this, and should. THIS is why TLC was established. THIS is why our Staff, Executive Board, and Science Advisory Board works so hard – and is supported by our members – people like YOU.

Now is the time to donate to TLC, and still receive a tax deduction on your 2011 taxes. As a thank you for any gift over $45, we’ll send you a Membership packet – with hundreds of articles, resources and discounts to TLC events.
I know the pain well. None of us should have to face these problems alone, and we all deserve to heal. Thanks to TLC, today there IS rigorous scientific research, trustworthy information, a community of support, treatment referrals, and increasing public awareness. But sadly there are still thousands of people suffering alone, without access to effective treatment, and much work to do in achieving the goal of a cure.
TLC is the only non-profit organization funding research, educating treatment providers, and working to end the suffering caused by hair pulling and skin picking.
If you care about this cause, please give YOUR support. Now. Today.
Wishing you a pull-free and pick-free New Year.
In Love and Service,
Christina Pearson
TLC Founding Director
P.S. If you are interested in making a stock or securities donation, please give us a call today at 831-457-1004. I will be SO happy to speak with you!

Trichotillomania Learning Center – TLC
207 McPherson St. Suite H | Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Phone: 831-457-1004
Web: www.trich.org
Email: info@trich.org
TLC is a 501(c)(3) national nonprofit organization,
our EIN# is 77-0266587.

From TLC: Another great post by a TLC Volunteer. if you have a personal story you’d like us to consider for the blog or our member newsletter, email leslie at (@) trich.org.

When you look at yourself in the mirror, you see so many different aspects of who you are, who you can be, who people perceive you as. A person with so much potential and so much to give yet your one flaw is the missing patch on the right side of your scalp. You don’t know why you do it, you barely notice when you do it. It is that much of a norm to you. Nobody understands including yourself, all you know is that you want to stop and regain control. The statement above that “Nobody understands “is a false statement, because even though you may feel that way, someone else is also in that same situation and you are not alone.

I know that relaxed feeling you feel when you pull, and how you hide it so you do not disappoint you’re loved ones. Yet I also know that it is possible to overcome this pressing obstacle. Suffering from Trichotillomania since I was ten years old, even having extreme cases to the point where I had shaved all my hair to start new. That did not stop my hardships though; on and off I would continue to pull and sometimes even breakdown in tears. I kept it from friends and even family. Yet I could not hide it anymore and came clean and worked hard to stop. Whenever I felt my hands going through my hair I would twist and release, or even think about the numerous people that wished for hair. Now at the age of sixteen I can say I survived and you will too. You are strong; you are full of potential, and most of all human. This is just a speed bump on the road and although it is not an easy battle to overcome, it is possible. I will always be a “puller” and I accept that but you take it a day at a time and one day you will reach that moment when you realize you don’t even do it anymore.

Helen Keller once said, “The struggle of life is one of our greatest blessings. It makes us patient, sensitive, and Godlike. It teaches us that although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it.” Having Trichotillomania will not stop you from living, you can’t let it. I hope finding the TLC organization has helped the struggles you face, because I know it has helped mine. I always felt alone in this problem, I did not know pulling even had a name or was classified as Trichotillomania, but finding a number of people who felt exactly the way I did, was the most comforting feeling. I have come to a place in my life where I don’t pull anymore and I know you will too!

Yes, I want deeper cognition into my own recovery process. At the grand and amazing age of 54 (soon to be 55), I would like to experience long hair again while I still have some natural color (I have kept it fairly short for years now).  I also want to find out if my hunch is right and that certain things have changed, in terms of sensory triggers, reactions, distress tolerance levels, and how I approach my own hair in general, after maintaining aware recovery for about 12 years. Plus, I love long hair, but years ago could never handle all the stimulation it gave me!

This is about me. I pulled in isolation severely for 21 years, and picked my skin for 15 of those, before I knew there were others.  After this discovery, and during the development of TLC, I spent 10 years in alternating periods of relapse and remission, in treatment, some good, some not so good, but always learning.

Today, I have maintained a high level of recovery for 12 years. I am now more likely NOT to engage in behavior, than to engage in it! So why am I doing this personal “challenge?”  Why not just keep my hair short, and not push the envelope? Because it is important, as it will give me deeper understanding of my own process, and hopefully, will allow me to share from personal experience how I navigate this path, from the inside-out.

Is this scientific? No. I leave that to our beloved scientists, who, as you can see in this research-focused issue, are hard at work and deeply worthy of our ongoing support and gratitude. Without them, TLC would not have been able to lay the groundwork that we have for effectively moving the field forward. There is still so much to do, but these clinicians and researchers are my heroes, for all they have accomplished in a few short years. Can’t wait to see what unfolds in the next few!

On a personal level I have found that, for me, there is no clear dividing line between the emerging science of my disorder and the spiritual homework of living with it. And that, while people desperately need accurate, useful information, and access to effective treatment, they also need deep empathy, recognition of their distress, and a kind of “bridging of shared experience” to really kick-start the recovery process.

For instance:  when someone wants a good overview of current knowledge, or wonders if there is a treatment provider we are familiar with in their area, we can often oblige, with tremendous beneficial impact. But what do we say to the mom who emailed on Friday to ask if spanking her toddler child for pulling is the “right” or “wrong” thing to do?  To the heart-broken mother whose daughter just had major surgery to remove her second large trichobezoar (hair-ball) from her stomach, even though she is in treatment? To the thirty-six year-old man who just wants to know “But WHY do I pick my skin?” To the sixteen-year-old who texts me that her parents just don’t believe she is trying to stop?

Many, many of the questions that come in we can now answer with some degree of clarity, offering data, resources, treatment information, and useful strategies, with a growing body of rigorous research to back this information up. But for many questions there are no clear answers, so it becomes the work of the heart.

At TLC, it is our charge to hold and honor the space that allows validation of experience; to maintain hope, encouragement, and commitment, even when confronted with someone suffering 40 years of unnerving, relentless, life-destroying  picking or pulling behavior.; to recognize, accept, and ultimately give voice to behaviors that are shame-bound, publicly ridiculed, and seen as generally demeaning.  This takes heart, commitment, and courage, especially when you know that you cannot fix it, don’t have the exact answer (yet), and that even if you do have useful resources or referrals, the person in need may not be able to access or utilize them for a variety of reasons.

For this loving service I thank my coworkers at TLC, for each of us must deal with this challenge on an almost daily basis.

The experiential process I am embarking on here is not only for my own edification I hope, but others, also. I am told (and have seen the evidence in brain-scans) that changing specific behavior over time, with intentional awareness, and reinforcing it through practice, can impact and alter the “neuronal architecture” of related pathways in the brain, at least to some degree.  I was always triggered by the length of hair. I want to see what happens now, after years of “practice.” In other words, I want to mindfully experience what research has discovered, if at all possible.  I also want to be able to describe it, personally, from the inside out, although it will be as a piece of prose, rather than as a report!

Looking forward to seeing you at this year’s Retreat.
Love, Christina

Note: This entry is re-published from Christina’s July newsletter column, mailed to TLC members a few weeks ago.  It seemed timely to share as we are in the midst of planning the retreat, working on the 2012 Research Grant RFP, and launching the 2012 Hands-Down-a-Thon/Awareness Week Campaigns. Plus it’s been awhile since we’ve heard from Christina!

Great post! Thank you for sharing and giving TLC a Shout Out!

A Call to Freedom

by Trich Whisperer
Reprinted from the TLC Newsletter, InTouch, #60 © 2011
© Trichotillomania Learning Center, Inc. 2011. All Rights Reserved

I really don’t remember the first time I met my nameless, faceless friend. He was remarkably unexceptional, simply offering relief when my eyes became unbearably itchy from allergies. From him, I learned that the best reprieve was found in pulling out my eyelashes. I think we must have become acquainted in third grade during allergy season because by the time I entered fourth grade, I had no eyelashes. That year, my classmates nicknamed me “Snake Eyes.” The nickname and almost daily teasing lasted for several years and I quickly discovered that my friend offered relief from more than just itchy eyes.

My mysterious friend became my worst enemy on semester exam day in eighth grade. It was the winter of 1981. I had just completed my science exam in white-haired, red-faced Mr. Conley’s class. I was sitting at the shellacked brown wooden table staring intently out the window and worrying about next period’s Ohio history exam – the last exam of the day but the one for which I was least prepared. My fingers traced across the texture of the carvings on the table left by students past. Some carvings were shallow, like scratches left by absentminded doodlers. Others were deep, intentional, created by angry artists lacking a canvas. At some point, my hand drifted from exploring the texture of the carvings to exploring the texture of my hair. And I started to pull.

Keep Reading…>>

 Do you agree?

If so, we need YOU.  Please JOIN TLC. Together, we will advance research, train doctors, and educate the public.

And, if you become a TLC member during the NEXT 7 DAYS, we will send you a free copy of the DVD:  Recent Research Findings: Trichotillomania Treatment and Phenomenology in Adults &Children

Each month, TLC helps over 500 people with hair pulling and skin picking disorders by providing trustworthy information, treatment referrals,support groups and phone and email support. But we know it is not enough to provide the best resources available today. We are working to create abetter  future.

Your membership supports vital programs such as:

• The Professional Training Institute – training doctors in best practice treatment
• The International Research Consortium – seeking better treatments and a CURE
• Phone & Email support – personal answers available to all those struggling
• Outreach Campaigns – educating schools, doctors, the media, and the public
• Email Support Groups (just like this one!)

We cannot do this work without the support of those with a strong personal interest in ending the suffering caused by hair pulling and skin picking disorders.   We need you.

If you want better answers, accessible treatment, and a community of support for yourself or a loved-one, PLEASE JOIN TLC today.   

 TLC MEMBERS RECEIVE:

• The Comprehensive Information Guide (over 200 pages of our best resources)
• Our information-packed newsletter InTouch
• Discounts to Conferences, Retreats, and Workshops

In a recent letter to TLC supporters,   I shared a story about the child “CM” who felt like an “alien” until  she found help from TLC.  Here’s a recent email she sent to me personally:

“I HAVENT PULLED MY EYEBROIWS FOR 4 OR 3 WEEKS!! and maybe if you have time and your not busy over this summer you could come fly over here on a weekend day and you my mom and i can go to the mall or something and all hang and talk about stratagies!!!!!”CM age 10

Where would she be now if TLC did not exist? 

The progress we have made in the last 20 years is remarkable.  And the people we have helped are profoundly grateful. Yet, with our current resources, TLC’s programs only reach a fraction of those in need.   Please ensure that our programs and services can grow to help all those still suffering: make a gift to the Anniversary Fund today.

Together we will provide the best resources available today – and create a better future.

Progress can’t happen without you.   Don’t delay – please JOIN TLC Today!   Thank you!

In love and service,
Christina Pearson
TLC Founding Director

this is you, whoever is reading this at this very moment!

Time for me to forge ahead, get off the pity pot of  “why don’t more people get involved for real, instead of watching from the sidelines…”  regarding trichotillomania and skin picking that I have been on for a few months. 

Some of this has to do with my period of transition, some had to do with turning points in my own life, and some of it had to do with the fact that we need to join together if we really want to see significant change. 

I guess at heart I have always been somewhat of a trailblazer, willing to step into the unknown, trusting the essence of the flow for the greater good to sustain and guide me.  I have come to realize not everyone is ready to do this, even if they have suffered greatly.   As I have heard in many ways – the flowers that we are unfold in their own time.

One thing I know for sure. It does make a difference to find out we are not alone, others feel what we do, and to find support and strategies online.

Online is fantastic, but it is not enough.

Here’s the thing: there is NO substitute for being in the physical presence of others with the problems of hair pulling and skin picking, working to recover.  There is some special, actually downright profound, that happens when we come together in person.

I have been watching this phenomenon for over twenty years now, and have seen shame, hopelessness and frustration melt away simply by being  in the presence of others.  Meeting professionals who actually DO know something about treatment, and care deeply.  So I hope you join TLC at the San Francisco Conference! I’ll be there, ready to hug you.

I really got frustrated in October, when I walked 20 miles to raise much needed funds for TLC on my “Trek for Trich.”  I did raise $3500, but my original goal was to raise $1000 per mile, or $20,000. I emailed, I posted, I shared, I contacted folks I hadn’t been in touch with for years, ALL who are affected in some way by trich, and I only raised $3500.

It was totally depressing. After 20 years of sometimes grinding work, to get the word out, to develop resources, to create better access, and all I could do was raise $3500 on my Trek from all the contacts I had,  people who knew of and had benefited from my work…

When what we need is not thousands, but hundreds of thousands – millions – to do what our community so desperately wants us to do!

Thus, I was like – ”What is the point?”

This is my answer to my own question.

If I were to turn away, now that I am in recovery, still knowing how much suffering exsists, and knowing that I CAN make a difference, even if it is a small one, I would be betraying my core self, grounded as it is in that which sustains me, nurtures me and inspires me. 

Thus, off the pity pot and back to work. I do have a story to tell, and so I am going to start telling it.

Nuff said, here’s hoping everyone has a great day, moment by moment!

Love, Christina

I have just been reading so many posts, from parents of trichsters, from adults with pulling and picking, and from teens, all wondering what to do, looking for answers, looking for hope and guidance.

Sometimes, I do not feel like much has been accomplished in the field when I read such suffering.  And yet I, and many others, have worked hard to make things better.

And it makes me crazy – through and through – that almost everyone sits back – waiting for “them” to do research, find treatment, provide answers – but totally not be willing to step up to the plate and take action.

People don’t ask American Airlines to lower the cost of a ticket – or wonder why they charge something.

We don’t expect our phone services to be free.

We don’t go shopping thinking that Macy’s is going to give me new clothes…

Get scads of information, resources, support… and never think twice about what it took to make that information available.  Never think to make a donation, small though it may be:  Actually, many people do contribute, but it is probably like 5-10% that actually do.

Why? 

I have done what I can – it has not been enough, by any means.

Tonight I must admit to being frustrated, by the amazing lack of support to really make change happen. Did you know that all we need is the financial resources? We have the researchers, the clinicians, the educators, the network.

I am tired, and don’t really know what to do.  Quit my job? If I were to turn my back on this work that I believe in so deeply, I would be betraying my core self.

Especially when I have found relief myself, and want others to access the same. I also know that the groundwork we have laid is strong, and much will happen in the next few years if we can stay focused on the goal – of alleviating the suffereing caused by picking and pulling.

I have tried to win the lottery – to no avail. If I won, I would create an endowment to continue this work, and support research.

So I sit here, late in the evening, sweating from the heat, typing my heart out, and wonderwhy I don’t pull my hair I am so frustrated! 

Here’s why. The benefits of the emotional freedom that I have attained from not pulling far outweighs the solace I get from pulling and picking. Today – I run less from things that cause pain, states that are uncomfortable, eventually they fade away – and thus when the joy comes, it is like a fountain of light and life, effervescently burbling through my awareness.

I’ll take it. Don’t always like the way things unfold, but that’s okay, too.

hmmm. Tomorrow is another day.

Good night dear world!

Love Christina

Last Friday, I walked 20 miles through three towns, to raise money for TLC and the work it does for people struggling with hair pulling and skin picking.

I raised $3500, for which I am very grateful – even though I had grand dreams of raising =$20,000!

Here’s the thing: it was a fantastic experience, good for my body, good for my mood, good for the communities I walked through, and good for TLC.

I definitely plan on doing it again next year, and hope others will both come and walk with me, or walk in their own communities.

Prepping for it got me out for long walks. Asking people to sponsor my walk with a financial pledge got easier and easier, and I was deeply touched by how many people responded. I learned a lot about myself, and also how to reach out to people in my life who might not know about my history and work (granted, there’s just a few of those…).

Most of all, it gave me something concrete that I could do, in a way that was fun, and pushed me a bit outside my normal envelope.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for those of you who supported my Trek!

Okay, gotta get back to work…

Love Christina

Time. Is a funny concept-thing-process, whatever. Here it is a bit after 9pm, and I have so much I want to do, yet I do need to sleep. I have just spent the past hour or so researching brain imaging studies in trichotillomania, and it has been profound to see the evolution from 1989 until today.

What is also extraordinary is how many of the researchers doing this work for the last twenty years, I know.  And I am so grateful for their interest and perseverance in this field of little money and glory.

Truly they are my heroes. 

I only wish I could raise enough money to really make a difference in funding cutting edge research.  The researchers are willing to do the work, and want to, but they need to feed their families, and cannot work for free.  So they do follow the money – at least to a certain degree – because they have to.

We will eventually come to understand the underlying biology of trich, and my hunch is it will be pretty interesting. Until better understanding supports better intervention, at least we do have things now that do work, maybe not perfectly – but treatment today is better than it used to be.

For myself, I am all about the whole process of using awareness – consciousness itself, to affect the neuroplasticity of the brain. In fact, that’s what good CBT does. I just want to take it further.

What does this mean? I fear I am babbling, having just read so many science abstracts my eyes are crossing as I type!

I have not practiced the guided meditation I am supposed to lead in my class tomorrow – and as I will be driving up to Hayward in the morning to see a dear friend, probably won’t have time to practice at all!

That’s okay. I’ll wing it.

Good night, be well, and be gentle.

Much love, Christina