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Parenting a child with greater social, emotional, or behavioral needs can be draining for caregivers, as these kids often need more support or create bigger challenges for the family throughout the day. When a child or teen is struggling, and families reach out for support from mental health professionals, the request is often for individual therapy focused on the child or adolescent to help them better regulate their emotions and behaviors. While it may be true that a child’s emotional and behavioral challenges are the root of a family system’s challenges, individual therapy is not always the primary or only recommendation for effective treatment.

The following is an interview with a real client at the Center for Effective Therapy who utilized Behavioral Parent Training to support their child who was struggling with big emotions and how to control his feelings.

In our world filled with constant access to information, it is increasingly more challenging to decipher what is accurate and what you can trust. Oftentimes, especially as busy people and working caregivers, we tend to lean heavily on popular new stories and social media algorithms for our sources of information. While these sources often have helpful and interesting information, sometimes they get science wrong.

When a child or adolescent is displaying hair-pulling behaviors that indicate the possibility of trichotillomania, early identification of symptoms and pursuing effective treatment with family support will set them on the right path.

Trichotillomania is commonly known as the “hair pulling” disorder in which an individual consistently pulls out one’s own hair in connection to emotional dysregulation, which can lead to hair loss or functional impairment. When a child is struggling with trichotillomania, it can be distressing for the whole family to see them engage in these behaviors, and it can often be hard to understand why the child feels the need to pull at their hair.