Amy Schumer has been so honest and transparent in her comedy that some fans might think she had hardly anything left to reveal. So when Schumer recently revealed her long battle with trichotillomania, fans were surprised — and ran to Google for answers.
What is Schumer’s mania, trichotillomania? The answer is that trichotillomania is a serious condition that refers to a compulsive desire to pull out one’s own hair — be it from the scalp, arms, eyebrows, anywhere the hair grows.
(Mania, according to the Cleveland Clinic, refers to any “over-the-top level of activity or energy, mood or behavior. This elevation must be a change from your usual self and be noticeable by others.”)
Trichotillomania is called simply a “hair-pulling disorder” and is sometimes abbreviated TTM in medical literature. By some measures it is estimated to afflict as much as 2% of the population.
You may not have heard of it, but you have very likely heard the cliché phrase “it makes me want to pull my hair out.” Seemingly a harmless utterance, “makes me want to pull my hair out” is a hurtful cliché to those suffering from trichotillomania.
In this first person essay from 2016, a young trichotillomania sufferer writes about why the phrase is hurtful. But you can already understand why — it makes light of a serious condition, poking fun using something that causes pain.
Schumer hopes to confront her “shame” over the disorder and raise awareness of trichotillomania by including it in her Hulu series, Life & Beth. She told THR: “I thought putting it in there would be good for me to alleviate some of my shame and maybe, hopefully, help others alleviate some of theirs, too.”
