Many self-help guides are available on Trich & Co. We advise caution when a single method is advertised as the only path to a cure. The disorder is complex and has different subtypes (e.g., onset in childhood vs. adulthood; automated vs. focused problem behavior; presence versus absence of an accompanying disorder or trauma). Different individuals benefit from different interventions. Below, we’ve compiled a number of self-help books that we think are well founded. Do you disagree or have other suggestions? Feel free to reach out to us!
General
| Overcoming Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors: A Comprehensive Behavioral Treatment for Hair Pulling and Skin Picking |
| In this evidence-based book, three experts share helpful skills from cognitive behavioral therapy to uncover potential triggers and manage symptoms of body-focused impulse-control disorders. |
| How to Heal Your BFRB: 4 Steps to Stopping Compulsive Skin Picking, Hair Pulling, and More (aka the BFRB Guide) |
| Author Lauren I. Ruiz Bloise compulsively skin-picked for seventeen years before developing a four-step program aimed to improve symptoms of body-focused repetitive behaviors. These are described in the book. |
| Slight Edge (Turning Simple Disciplines Into Massive Success and Happiness) |
| This guide is not directly about body-focused repetitive behaviors, yet the concept of the “slight edge” approach can be helpful and motivating for BFRB-affected people. The book describes how small steps lead to success. It’s worth a try… |
| The BFRB Recovery Workbook |
Skin Picking
These books are for skin pickers.
| Skin Picking: The Freedom to Finally Stop |
| The author, who has the condition herself, guides the reader step by step through strategies to leave skin picking behind. These include specific techniques, lifestyle and dietary changes, and much more. This guide is intended not only for affected individuals and their families but also for practitioners. |
| Project Dermatillomania: Written On Our Skin |
| This book tells the true stories of nineteen people living with skin picking. The book is neither a self-help book nor a behavior guide. Instead, it is meant to provide insight into how dermatillomania can affect those who suffer from it. |
Trichotillomania
These books are specifically for people affected by trichotillomania.
| Doesn’t it Hurt?: Confessions of Compulsive Hair Pullers | |
| In this book, fifteen authors from around the world openly share their personal experiences with trichotillomania. | |
| Life Is Trichy: Memoir of a Mental Health Therapist with a Mental Health Disorder | |
| This book focuses on the story of a twenty-nine-year-old perfectionist who struggled all her life with skin picking, nail biting, and hair pulling. Drawing on her professional career as a psychologist, she combines the patient’s point of view with her professional knowledge as a therapist. | |
| Trichy Tillie | |
| Trichy Tillie is a children’s book about the bird Tillie, who suffers from trichotillomania. Tillie’s experience with the disease is introduced to the readers in a playful way, and it becomes clear that even though trichotillomania is a part of Tillie’s life, there is much more to her! | |
| Marni: My True Story of Stress, Hair Pulling, and Other Obsessions | |
| In this memoir, Marni Bates describes how she has dealt with trichotillomania. She tells her story from her perspective as a teenager, so young people will be especially able to relate to it. |
Nail Biting
These books are for nail biters.
| Stop Nail Biting: The Ultimate How-To Guide to Quitting Nail Biting for Life |
| Author Graham Elliot suffered from the habit of nail biting for years. His book is devoted to the question of why self-destructive habits become ingrained in our lives and how to break them. |
| Self Help Book for Nail Biting Adults: Stop Nail Biting Help for Men And Women of All Ages |
| In this self-help book, the author first talks about her personal experience with nail biting. Then, she describes how to identify nail biting triggers and overcome the habit. |