Identifying and Addressing Current Gaps in Knowledge and Treatment Dissemination for Individuals With Trichotillomania

Trichotillomania is an impairing and debilitating mental health condition, and while the research in this area is growing, this population is underserved. The aim of this project was to identify gaps in the research that may be contributing to lack of treatment access and begin filling those gaps. The first gap is knowledge of how treatments work and for whom they work best. While there are a variety of treatment options and ways of delivering treatment, individual factors that predict who will benefit most are not well investigated. We explored the individual factors, and aspects of treatment that we believe create change, that predict decreases in symptom severity for a website of acceptance and commitment therapy- enhanced behavior therapy (A-EBT) for adults with trichotillomania. Age and anxiety levels both impacted treatment outcomes. Additionally, trichotillomania specific psychological flexibility was preliminarily found to be a process of change in treatment for trichotillomania regardless of intervention type. The second paper explored how providers knowledge of trichotillomania and skin picking disorder could be a cause for lack of treatment accessibility. Providers had limited knowledge of diagnosis, treatment, resources, referral options for individuals with trichotillomania, and reported that they did not feel competent to treat trichotillomania or skin picking disorder based on their knowledge and training. The third paper explored if weekly phone check-ins improved treatment outcomes and adherence to a fully automated website delivering A-EBT for adults with trichotillomania. We found that while adherence to the program significantly predicted treatment outcomes, check-ins did not significantly improve adherence to the program.