Hiya , I ' m not a dr but I have had trichotillomania and dermatillomania for just over 10 years . I am not surprised you received that reaction from your dr my GP had no idea what the hell Trich was when I went to him . I ' ve had CBT and if you have a good therapist and , most importantly , want to get better and put the effort in it can be really helpful . There are no quick fixes , it ' s an ongoing learning process and you need to persevere and understand that managing Trich is a continual process . Some advice I can give is to notice when you pull do you pull consciously or unconsciously , do trich behaviours occur when you are relaxed , stressed , watching tv , reading a book ? I pull more when I am alone or watching tv so when I watch TV I use a tangle toy or fiddle with something , I get family to tell me to stop when they see me doing it , I wear my hair in a way that makes pulling more difficult this helps me bring awareness to my behaviour and gives me the opportunity to do sth about it . I also avoid looking at my hair for too long , so I tend to pull certain hairs so I avoid looking at these hair in the mirror and I avoid looking at damage I have caused . it is important to know that these kinds of observational behaviours are as much a part of the condition as pulling is . Be creative in your methods , you kind of need to find ways to outsmart yourself it ' s a tiring process but you can do it ! I had a bald spot the size of my whole hand and now it ' s so small that you ' d think it was a natural parting . You will have setbacks , sometimes big ones , but that ' s okay , just get back to it and keep persevering . I find anxiety can make mine worse so look into CBT for your anxiety too if that is something you struggle with , as I did .