Hair pulling by the patient suffering from Trichotillomania leaves bald spots on the head.
With severe trichotillomania hair pulling leads to all of the head and body being plucked.

Case study:

Hair Pulling Treatment

My daughter suffers from Trichotillomania. The Trichotillomania Treatment which she was prescribed made things worse, thoughts of suicide and increased hair pulling. We live in Wisconsin and I am desperately looking for help for her trichotillomania before she starts college.

What is happening here?

Reuptake inhibitor drugs are the primary Trichotillomania Treatment that doctors use. Trichotillomania is a variant of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Neurotransmitter levels in the brain that are not high enough cause trichotillomania. The drugs used to treat trichotillomania can burn out (deplete) the neurotransmitter levels causing:

Symptoms to get worse
The drug quits working or does not work from the start of treatment
With severe neurotransmitter depletion by drugs thoughts of suicide develop.

In the e-mail above, this is exactly what happened, the drug that the patient was taking for trichotillomania during medical treatment made things worse by burning out (depleting) the neurotransmitter levels in the brain. The only way to prevent this problem is to give the patient the nutrients that the brain needs to synthesize neurotransmitters. In doing so the Trichotillomania Treatment with nutrients will not deplete neurotransmitters during treatment.

It is the findings of NeuroResearch Clinics when proper levels of nutrients needed by the brain are given during Trichotillomania Treatment drugs are not needed to achieve relief of symptoms. The majority of patients presenting for treatment in clinics using the NeuroResearch Clinics approach are taking Trichotillomania Treatment drugs in one form or another. In virtually all of these cases the patients are not getting full relief of symptoms with the previous Trichotillomania Treatment at time of initial nutrient treatment.

Trichotillomania Treatment with drugs depletes neurotransmitters. The natural nutrient approach of NeuroResearch Clinics to medical treatment increase neurotransmitter levels in the brain. The following is a discussion of how the Trichotillomania Treatment with drugs depletes neurotransmitter levels of the brain.

How Trichotillomania Treatment with Drugs Deplete Neurotransmitters

The following is a discussion of what NeuroResearch Clinics has been teaching since 1998 on the problems Hair Pulling Treatment Treatment with drugs. In 2007 the following pictures were posted on the "National Institute of Drug Abuse" web site discussing how reuptake inhibitors drugs deplete neurotransmitters. The National Institute of Drug Abuses explanation of how reuptake inhibitor drugs deplete neurotransmitters it is the exact same explanation NeuroResearch Clinics formulated in 1998. Following pictures are courtesy of the National Institute of Drug Abuse.

For people suffering with Trichotillomania synaptic neurotransmitter levels in the brain are below the levels needed to prevent symptoms of disease. The picture below illustrates not enough neurotransmitters (the red triangles) in the synapse to keep disease symptoms under control.

Serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor drugs, as well as amphetamines, and cocaine, block the reuptake of the neurotransmitter molecules back into the presynaptic neuron. This leads to a decrease in presynaptic neuron neurotransmitter levels (where the neurotransmitter is safe from enzymatic breakdown). The blocking of neurotransmitter reuptake increases the neurotransmitter levels in the synapse and increases the enzymatic metabolism (breakdown) by the MAO and COMT enzymes. If proper levels of balanced nutrients are not given during medical treatment with these drugs the neurotransmitters are depleted by their increased exposure to the enzymes that break them down.

The net effect of neurotransmitter exposure to MAO and COMT enzymatic metabolism during Trichotillomania Treatment depletes neurotransmitter levels. The neurotransmitter molecules do not cross the blood brain barrier. The only way to increase neurotransmitter levels in the brain in order to prevent the depletion of neurotransmitter levels by drugs is to provide properly balanced 5-HTP, tyrosine, levodopa, tryptophan, and cysteine during medical treatment, which crosses the blood brain barrier then are synthesized into new neurotransmitter molecules by the brain. With proper nutrient administration neurotransmitter levels in the brain are elevated to levels above what is needed to keep Trichotillomania symptoms under control.