Behavior Therapy Week 2 This 5 week Behavior Therapy Program was designed by a Therapist that also suffers from Trichotillomania. If you would like to talk to others that have tried this therapy go to BrendaC's Message Board Home Page Introduction and Week 1 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 I thought I'd better add here that even people who are not pulling, and have not pulled for some time, can also do the program. Those people enter the times of the day that they have urges to pull or carry out behaviors that often lead them to pulling such as hair twirling, stroking eyebrows, checking out eyelashes in the mirror etc. Some of you would have started the program a week ago tomorrow or the next day, others may have only just started. You must complete a whole week on the first week before beginning the second week's activities. So print off this week's activities but wait till you have completed a week on the first week's activities before you start. If you have completed your first week's activities you should have planned a special day for the date you have set to finally QUIT PULLING! Write your plan in your notebook. You should also have started a list of reasons why you should quit pulling and a list of your goals. There is method in writing out these things. They focus you on the positives of quitting instead of keeping you locked into the negatives of having trich. They also subconsciously increase your desire to stop pulling.You must read these everyday whether or not you think that it's silly. I ask you to suspend any disbelief that any of the activities will work for you. Not because I want you to believe whatever you are told, but because such thinking when you are completing a program designed to change behavior is counter productive. REMEMBER THIS: The difference between success and failure has more to do with your attitude and persistance than it has to do with your ability! Most people who have achieved something in life that they have wanted to achieve will attest to that . If you think you will fail then it is almost certain that you will. But if you think you can succeed and you desire success enough, then you will persist until you do. You can choose to adopt a negative attitude to the stopping process or a positive attitude. Don't look for excuses to stay locked into your dysfunctional pattern of living. One of the main things that will sabotage your attempts to stop pulling is self-pity! It isn't so much just stress by itself but the self-pity surrounding stressful events that will get you pulling. For example, it's not the actual pressure at work that will make you pull. It's the feeling sorry for yourself. It's not that too many demands will make you pull, it's feeling sorry for yourself because you have them. Learn to recognise all the things in your life that cause you to feel sorry for yourself and be ready for the self-pity. Self-pity is a negative attitude and we have already established that the difference between success and failure is attitude. Keep your attitude positive and recognise it if you are allowing self-pity to get in the way of your success. Review your recording of pulling sprees from last week. What happened before these sprees? Was there a stressful event? Think about whether it was the event that made you pull or whether it was your feelings about the event!! How long after a meal was it? Was it in bed? Where were you? What were you thinking? Were you bored? Can you change the way you think or feel about the stressful events in your life? REMEMBER THIS: It is not an event or a person that will make you happy sad or angry. It is how you choose to respond to the event. Different people respond differently to exactly the same events or people.How do you choose to respond??? Add up the number of minutes (or hours if it's more appropriate for you) that you spent pulling last week. Enter the number of hours in your notebook at the end of that week's pulling entries. ACTIVITIES FOR WEEK TWO 1. Continue to record all of your pulling sprees for the week. Record the time of the day and the length of the spree (if it's only one hair you pull, still record it). Also record urges to pull or pre pulling type of behavior such as stroking hair. Record the time of the urge/behavior. 2. Record what preceded the pulling (or urge etc), where you were when you pulled, what your feelings were surrounding the pulling incident what you did to control it (if anything. And what you did AFTERWARDS. 3. Change the place where you keep your hair grooming aids (eg brushes,combs, tweezers, shampoos, conditioners, hairclips etc). They don't have to be far from the place you normally keep them but this is to break any automatic patterns of behavior related to hair grooming and pulling. Getting rid of any rituals here - even seemingly harmless ones. You will now have to become more conscious about what you are doing when you do anything with your hair. No more pulling without thinking or doing anything with your hair, eyelashes etc without thinking especially if you have to think about where you put your tweezers etc. This assists in breaking automatic pulling. It is inconvenient but so is trich!!! 4. Stop using pretty hair accessories to hide bald patches. Use plain (very plain) ones. You must not associate pulling with anything nice (even unconsciously) so get rid of anything glamorous and only use the basic things you need to face the world. 5. Delay pulling for one hour after each time you eat. (Try this distraction if you get an urge during times you're not allowed to pull: Make a fist with both hands. Tense the muscles of upper and lower arms by sqeezing the fist. Hold for 30 seconds Release then repeat three times. Now take 3 deep breaths. Breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Try to force the air to bypass the lungs and enter the diaphram (this is below the lungs between the rib cage at the bottom to the ribs). This is easier if you try to keep your shoulders down when you are breathing deeply. 6. Delay pulling for one hour upon waking in the morning (use the distraction above if need be) and for one hour before going to bed. If you pull in the hour you must sit up for another hour. 7. Increase your water intake. This assists in flushing out toxins. 8. Record the mumber of caffeine drinks (including cola etc) and alcohol drinks taken in the week and the hour of the day that they are taken. 9. Continue adding to your list of reasons for stopping pulling and read this list daily. 10. End the day with a positive affirmation. .Website maintained by BrenDakota.