My best friend has trichotillomania it is a hair pulling disease:  

I found this on the net for you Pat. I hope it helps in some way..........

"Habit Reversal Training or HRT, has been shown to be a successful adjunct to medication as a way to treat TTM.[12] With Habit Reversal Training, doctors train the individual to learn to recognize their impulse to pull and also teach them to redirect this impulse. As a part of the behavioral record-keeping component of HRT, patients are often instructed to keep a journal of their hair-pulling episodes. They may be asked to record the date, time, location, and number of hairs pulled, as well what they are thinking or feeling at the time. This can help the patient learn to identify situations where they commonly pull out their hair and develop strategies for avoiding episodes.

Treatment with Clomipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant, was shown in a small double-blind study to significantly improve symptoms.[13]

Fluoxetine (Prozac) and other similar SSRI drugs have limited usefulness in treating TTM, and can often have significant side effects.[14] According to F. Penzel, antidepressants can even increase the severity of the TTM."

Note the last paragraph. I do agree that stronger anti-depressants are not the way to go.

Hi patriciaqualls, I really don't know what to say that would help, and I never knew this existed or I have never knew anyone that has it.

Although, I think I can understand how you must feel, because she is a friend of your. You are wonderful friend, for you to seek help that is the best kind of love there is and that is just the kind of love that we need more off thought out the world.

Therefore, I think you are helping your friend, just for being there for her, listing to her and caring as much as you do. I know you would like to do more and prabely help her to stop, but I don't have the answers. Sorry,I can't help you.

Snowqueen

Hypnotherapy usually is good as they can go to the root of the problem. Something happened in her childhood that tramautised her and she started pulling her hair out as a way to cope.

You can't get her to stop, she needs to find out the WHY she does it and so must go back in time to find out what triggered it.

Hi, I didn't know they have named it a disease, I thought it's just a bad habbit. I didn't know anyone with that habbit, and I thought it's just for temporarily and can be cured itself. I'm sorry that I can't help you, thanks for the discussion.

I have never heard of this and dont know really what I would do I know when my friend wanted be to stop her from cussing I would tell her when she did and then threaten to bop her one every time she did cuss Think I hit her a couple of times but it worked she stoped cussing1

Does she tend to pull it out more when she is stressed or upset? Are there any triggrs that you have noticed to make the behavior start? It may be an unconscious response to emotion. I knew a little girl who would pull out clumps of her hair when she became upset or when her Mom was gone for a long period of time. It was, as I said before, an unconscious response to her emotions.
If you happen to notice certain triggers or moods when she does it most, try to help her find something else to do to release. If she can find a way to keep her hands busy with something else, she wouldn't be able to pull her hair.
She may need to go see her family doctor. There may be something he/she can do to help too.

Hello particiaqualls, I think my 5 years old son is suffering from this disease or whatever it is. My son pulls his hair, eye brows and eye lashes. I noticed he started doing this when he turned 4. Sometimes he even pull his brothers or father hair. I brought him to the doctor but the doctor seem to think it is a habitual thing and that I should tell him to stop doing it when he is old enough to understand. Well, he is now old enough to understand. Each time he does it, I will try to refrain him. So far, he has reduce his hair pulling activities but I have to constantly watch him so he will not do it again. I think I have read this disease somewhere and it said it has something to do with the brain cell. I don't know but I will try to make him stop doing this and see whether it will make him stop. For your friend, I think she need to see a professional on this. Good luck.

This shouldn't be a difficult problem to solve. Cut her hair short, so she can't get her fingers around it to pull it out. If she wants long hair get her a hairpiece for special occasions. Let her pull the hair out of the hairpiece. I expect if she is allowed to pull her own hair out more than a few times it will stop growing back. I'm an expert on no hair, as I've been bald for many years.

i am glad that this subject has come up because i do have this, not as bad as it used to be, but i still pull out my hair, when i was a kid i ended up with a massive bald patch on my head and i was teased something terrible in school i resorted to wearing a hat in the end and the kids would pull it off me and tease me when they saw my bald patch, but i overcome it and stopped pulling out my head hair, my hair grew back but i still pull away at my eyebrow, yes just one, i have half of an eyebrow on the right side, the other one is ok but pretty thin, but i still pick at this alot, it gives me satisfaction when i finally pull out the hair that i can feel, it annoys me when i can feel them hairs, so now i have to draw on part of my eyebrow with an eye pencil, i have tried to stop but it just bugs me when i feel that hair, when it grows longer i just have to get them out, i also used to pick at my eyelashes and i ended up with just a few hairs, and not a full set of lashes on one eye, i used to say to myself, leave it alone, let it grow but i was aware of the hair and still pull at them....i also use tweezers when i find a stray hair on my chin and i go nuts if i cannot get at it, i am in my mid 40's now and i have alot of estrogen so i do get a few chin hairs, (not quite a beard yet) lol, but i do feel one or two hairs there, people think i am nuts when they see me picking at my chin with tweezers, but i just cannot help it, i have always thought that i had trich, but never been to see a specialist about it but i have read about it and my symptoms matched up, when i used to pull out my head hair as a kid, the doctor told me it was due to nerves because i had a dysfunctional family life and my nerves got the better of me, but now when i think about it, i didn't have bad nerves, i had trich and prolly still do....this is the first time i have ever admitted this in public, so thankyou for bringing this discussion to light..i feel much better about the situation now and know that i am not the only one who does this....i still haven't stopped yet, but i do it less than i used to do

My granddaughter used to do that, its like a nervous habit. She pulled out all her eyelashes and eyebrows. She would sometimes pull out our hair on our arms. I went so far as to give er a pair of tweezers and let her pull out the hair on my legs. she had this thing with pulling out hair. She eventually stopped and was so proud when se got her eyelashes and eyebrows back. My sister is always picking at her head. She has a couple of bald spots with a sore, she is constantly pickin, its a bad habit. I used to bite my fingernails, I eventually stopped that. Sometimes people need help in stopping the behavior others are able to stop on their own. I wish your friend lots of luck. Your a good friend to be concerned about her.