"I had trichotillomania for 35 years. I didn’t know that’s what it was. I didn’t actually pull my hair out, but constantly ‘played’ with it, searching for hairs of certain textures then fiddling with them. This was usually when I was watching TV, reading or driving. When my daughter developed severe mental health disorders including Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, I discovered that I had a (milder) form of trichotillomania – which happens to be a variant of OCD and anxiety disorder. The trichotillomania was out of control while my daughter was very ill. . My arms were up to my head so much I had arm pain. Professor Selena Bartlett is a dear friend of mine from school days. We re-established contact through social media a few years ago. I haven’t seen her for many years but in a show of support for her amazing and ground breaking work I bought a copy of ‘Miggi Matters’. I didn’t really know what I was buying but that book was a God send. For me the most valuable thing I learnt was recognising that my hair pulling was my way of dealing with stress – my amygdala would go into fight or flight mode and I would pull at my hair. Recognising my hair pulling as a ‘Miggi moment’ helped me re-direct my stress to less harmful behaviours. The tracing was invaluable and if I didn’t have access to pencil and paper I would trace the seams in my clothes. Within four weeks my hair pulling had stopped. I now rarely go to pull my hair and when I do I can say to myself ‘Oh this is a Miggi Moment’ take a few deep breaths and that’s it.

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Thank you Selena for never giving up on unravelling the mysteries of our brain and providing user friendly strategies to help eliminate harmful behaviours. I’m awaiting you next book with much anticipation.