A Case of Trichotillomania in Correlation with Psychological Conditions of its Mother : From the View Point of Behavior Theory

Abstract

Trichotillomania in chilren has been considered as a neurosis or behavior disorder in most cases.In this paper, the author presented a case study of a 5-year old girl, who had been treated by operant conditioning therapy. In the course of his therapy, however, her symptom get worse sometimes, and these changes were found in exact concordance with various affairs occurring around her mother. Although the mother denied the existence of the troubles with apparently calm attitudes, actually she was so irritated that she couldn't follow the indications of the author. Thus the author considered it necessary to study her life history in detail.Through this study, the author saw the typical example of mother's emotional state affecting the course of therapy, and learned that a focus must put upon the examination of mother's life history.