General strategies
*Improve quality of life. Though it is not guaranteed to help directly, it can't hurt, and it is indeed possible that it will help. Exercise, diet, learning how to say "no" to stressors, streamlining one's life so that it is more likely that high priority things will get done--these can't help but be good things. When stress is thus minimized, trich might be helped either by the lessening of stress-related urges or the increasing of the ability to follow through on resolutions.
*Willpower. I hate to mention this one because condemning oneself for being weak and having no willpower is one of the most painful side effects of having trich but that is how some people say they were able to go months without pulling.
*Religion. This sensitive subject comes up on the board periodically. Many people gain strength from their religious faith and some report miraculous and total relief from trich symptoms. When discussing religion on the board please be gentle in your response. If you are religious please remember that many people have had bad experiences with religion, and many simply have a different faith from your own. If you are not religious, please remember that for many people religion is a source of comfort, a way of life, and often a help in dealing with trich.
*Support groups (such as this board)
*Picking oneself up after pulling. Trying "one more time." This leads to many people not declaring themselves cured but rather declaring that they are finding it easier and easier to go long times without pulling and that they are also finding that the urges are less most of the time.
A personal favorite of mine: redefining what it means to be cured to something along the lines of "getting rid of the shame and finding significant success in decreasing the amount of pulling."
*One benefit which the slow steady recovery has over more "miraculous" ones is that when the person is actively involved in achieving remission and when that person has had setbacks and then overcome them, that person is conscious of strategies which worked for them once and which they might be able to employ again. Make a note of whatever seems to have worked for you to any degree so that you might try it again at some later point even if you have temporarily abandoned it.
