Hi, I'm 17 years old and I have been struggling with trichotillomania since I was 6. When I first started pulling out my eyebrows I thought at first that I was just making them spiky, but then my parents realized that I was actually pulling out my eyebrows. I don't really know what triggered me to start pulling my eyebrows out because when I first started I was just sitting in front of my TV watching a Disney movie, Ice Princess. Maybe watching TV is my trigger, but I doubt it because TV is really the only thing that makes me happy anymore. After my parents realized I was pulling my hair out they kept telling me to stop pulling and gave me punishments for pulling. At the time, before I realized I probably had Trichotillomania, I developed/ have social anxiety. I didn't/don't make eye contact with people because I was/am ashamed that I don't have any eyebrows. I've asked my parents to take me to the doctor so that they could try and prescribe me something and my mom always says she wills but never gets to it. It wasn't until she noticed that my 3 year old little sister liked to pick at her face, making her develop as she calls them "spots" on her face that my mom finally decided to take HER to the doctor after asking me what made me start to pull. I absolutely hate to talk about it or even bring out the subject. When people ask me what happened to my eyebrows I either tell them a lie or try and change the subject without the person noticing.  I had to ask my mom if I could come to so that I could talk to the doctor about my pulling. In the end, it turned out to be a bust because my doctor advised me to go to this therapist and I went to one session with her but wasn't able to continue because she was pregnant and taking maternity leave so... After that, my mom still continues to say she'll take make a new appointment for me, but she's busy with work and I get it. Since realizing that I probably have trichotillomania it's a bit comforting to know that I'm not the only one who pulls their hair out but at the same time scary to know that it's a mental illness, because growing up mental illnesses means that you were sick and had to be put in like a psych ward at some hospital. I've also realized that my social anxiety probably correlates to my pulling, but it still sucks because I don't interact a lot with people. My mom makes jokes about my social anxiety but most of the time I feel like she's making fun of me. Once she told me that I should take social classes to learn how to be social and another time she compared me to a kid with Aspergers, due to my lack of socialness I tend to make comments that unintentionally come off rude. On top of all that I also have anxiety. I just want to feel happy again, and feel like I can have a conversation with a person or a guy without feeling embarrassed or ashamed that I don't have any eyebrows and I want to get help or at least learn what I need to do to break this long time habit.