A rare mental disorder called trichotillomania that manifests itself in people pulling out their own hair is most likely triggered by stress, Taipei Medical University Hospital psychiatrist Tsai Shang-ying (蔡尚穎) has said.
Citing a patient of his as an example, Tsai said that the university student said that he had been ostracized by his peers since junior-high school, and that he would pull out his hair whenever he felt anxious, to the point that his head has bald patches.
The syndrome has an incidence rate of about 1 percent, which translates into one teenager per three to four classrooms, he said.
The syndrome is not limited to the scalp and can sometimes involve the removal of eyebrows, and in extreme cases can become so severe that it affects a patient’s social life, he added.
The university student had his head shaved as a solution, but that only prompted him to pull out the hair on other parts of his body, Tsai said.
This resulted in a strange and deformed look that resulted in the student being ostracized by his classmates, he said.
The student’s withdrawal from social life turned him into a recluse, Tsai said, adding that he stayed at home and played computer games all day, and only interacted with his family members.
The patient tried wearing a cap to prevent the compulsive behavior, but ended up pulling the hair around the edge of the cap, he said.
The disorder could take other forms, such as compulsive nail-biting or repeatedly scratching the skin, he said.
The student finally sought treatment out of concern over his approaching graduation and the negative effects that the syndrome would have during job interviews, Tsai said.
Trichotillomania can be treated through counseling and behavioral therapy rather than medication, he said, adding that a psychiatrist must gain insight into the context in which a patient started to pull out their hair and how they do it.
People who think they might have the syndrome should see a psychiatrist to have their behaviors diagnosed and undergo assessments to see whether treatment is necessary, he added.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
A pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today. The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back
RSS