Safe Hands, Safe Hair

Book excerpt: A narrative therapy book to read to toddlers and young children who struggle with hair pulling behavior, specifically known as trichotillomania. By reading our children social stories, they are able to gain an increased awareness of themselves as an individual as well as themselves in relation to others. This process allows children to advance in their development by learning how to identify the various feelings that they experience along with healthy ways to cope and manage those feelings. Children who have trichotillomania often utilize hair pulling as a coping/self-soothing strategy to manage various feelings such as worry, boredom, and/or frustration. I hope that you find this book useful in helping you to work with your child to normalize his/her feelings as well as to gain alternative adaptive coping skills to replace the hair pulling behavior.