BFRBs in the Media: Personal Stories, News, Films, and Books on Trichotillomania, Dermatillomania & More

Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRBs) Affect 1 in 20 People — Yet Most Have Never Heard of Them

According to the Mayo Clinic, an estimated 1 in 20 people live with a body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB) like hair pulling (trichotillomania), skin picking (dermatillomania), or nail biting — but many don’t even know these behaviors have a name, let alone that effective treatment and support exist. That’s why raising awareness about BFRBs is so critical. The more we spread the word, the more people can recognize their symptoms, realize they’re not alone, and begin their journey toward healing.

Below, you'll find media coverage, powerful personal stories from our community, and featured books and films that shine a light on BFRBs. Explore the stories — you may just find someone who shares your experience and inspires your next step forward.

Also be sure to check out our BFRB Changemakers Community Stories Series.

Know a story we should add? Want to share your own experience?
Contact us to keep the conversation going.

1. Trichotillomania Personal Stories

   1. ELLE: Compulsive Hair Pulling May Be Incurable, But the Shame Around It Isn't (Katie Bannon)

   2. Washington Post: I couldn’t stop pulling my hair. What was wrong with me?  

   3. BuzzFeed: 16: Mackensie Is Pulling Out Her Hair - Atlanta (Mackensie)

   4. INSIDER: Living With Trichotillomania: I Hide Bald Spots With Hats and Wigs

   5. SELF: How I Deal With Trichotillomania in the Workplace

   6. VOGUE: Reentering the World With Anxiety Eyebrows

   7. The Atlantic: Why It's So Hard to Treat Compulsive Hair Pulling

   8. Refinery29: Jillian Clark Hair Pulling, Trichotillomania Growing Up

   9. Bustle: 5 Things People With Trichotillomania Want You To Understand

   10. Refinery29: Why Shaving My Daughter's Head Was Our Only Choice — & The Best One We Ever Made

   11. ABC News: Trichotillomania: When You Always Want to Literally Pull Out Your Hair (Rebecca Brown)

   12. INSIDER: I started pulling out my hair at age 8. Telling my husband I wore a wig to hide bald spots was terrifying, but I shouldn't have worried. (Katie Bannon)

   13. TODAY: Bald teen with hair-pulling disorder wins beauty pageant - and raises awareness

   14. The Atlantic: The Woman Who Pulled Out All Her Own Hair

   15. HelloGiggles: One brave girl's battle with trichotillomania — a disorder we don't talk about enough (Mackensie)

   16. Washington Post: Pulling your hair or picking at skin can be signs of serious disorders

   17. Washington Post: Growing up, I hid my compulsive hair pulling. It was trichotillomania.

   18. Yahoo: Women share what it's like living with trichotillomania: 'I have accepted I may not ever have eyelashes again'

   19. Buzzfeed: Amy Schumer Opened Up About Having Trichotillomania. Here's What People With The Condition Think About That.

   20. Allure: Living With Trichotillomania: Six People Share Their Stories

   21. HabitAware: Recovery Success Stories

   22. Stylist: I have a compulsive urge to pull out my hair – but one of the worst parts of trichotillomania is the shame

   23. InStyle: What Living with Trichotillomania Is Really Like

   24. Salon: My first date as a bald woman: Romance with trichotillomania

   25. Racked: The Pull to Pull: What Is Trichotillomania?

2. Dermatillomania Stories in the News

1. BuzzFeed: People With Dermatillomania Are Turning To TikTok To Spread Awareness

2. The Guardian: Dermatillomania: meet the people who can’t stop skin picking

3. The New York Times: Fighting the Shame of Skin Picking

4. Women’s Health: 6 Photos That Perfectly Explain This Heartbreaking Skin Disorder

5. Harper’s Bazaar India: I was stuck in a skin-picking shame spiral—until I decided to speak about it

6. Teen Vogue: How I'm Living With a Skin Picking Disorder

7. Cosmopolitan: I Turned My Skin-Picking Disorder, Dermatillomania, Into a Safe Space on Social Media

8. Refinery29: How I Learned To Stop Picking And Love My Skin

9. MindBodyGreen: I Have Dermatillomania: Here's What Finally Helped Me Stop Picking My Skin

10. Scripps News: Living With And Embracing A Skin-Picking Disorder

BFRB Awareness in the News

• Well+Good: How Aneela Idnani Is Bringing Awareness to Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors—In More Ways Than One

• The New York Times: Trichotillomania, Isolation and Anxiety: What to Do? 

• Teen Vogue: Why These Hair Salons Are So Special For People Suffering from Trichotillomania

• CNN: A simple technique may help with nail-biting, skin picking and other body-focused repetitive behaviors, new research suggests

• U.S. News: Understanding Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors

Movies with BFRBs

• Trichster Documentary

• Bad Hair Life Documentary

• Backspot

Books / Memoirs about BFRBs

• FOREVER MARKED: A Dermatillomania Diary - Angela Hartlin

• Life is Trichy: Memoir of a mental health therapist with a mental health disorder

• Doesn't it Hurt?: Confessions of Compulsive Hair Pullers

• The Trichster Diaries - Barbara Lally
  

• My Trichster Diaries - Journal - Barbara Lally
  
  

• Project Dermatillomania: The Stories Behind Our Scars

• Project Dermatillomania: Written On Our Skin

• The Hair Pulling "Habit" and You: How to Solve the Trichotillomania Puzzle

• My Hair Is Not For Pulling

• Marni: My True Story of Stress, Hair-Pulling, and Other Obsessions

• The Perfect Pull by Lindsay Woolman

BFRB TEDx Talks

• Liz Atkin - Liz Atkin: Re-imagining Compulsive Skin Picking: Art for Recovery

• Jude Stevenson - Judith Stevenson: "What the Pluck? Living with Trichotillomania"

• Aneela Idnani - Aneela Idnani: Overcoming Trichotillomania: The Power of Awareness

• Dr. Keita Joy - Mental Health is declining and Black women are hit the hardest

Compiled by BFRB Advocate, Mackensie F.