You've GOT to be kidding me. I twiddle my hair all the damn time, most often when I'm stuck in traffic. But I don't pull it, I just curl it around my finger until traffic starts moving again! And my hair is almost down to my waist in the back but I have it shorter in the front, so I just grab a little tress and twirl. At night, after I wash it, I brush it, get all tangles out, and put it up on top of my head with a spin pin. Stays out of the way while I sleep; in the morning I take it out and brush it again. No pain, no pain!

I heard a blurb on the radio this morning that 50 some percent of teenage girls and 40 some per cent of teenage boys have been sexually harassed.

So, awkward teenage flirting could lead to a lifetime of harassment! And hair twirling can lead to trichotillomania!

At what point do we stop looking for victims?

Any human behavior can be taken to a damaging extreme, but the behavior itself does not constitute a gateway drug. If you are pulling your hair out to the point where it's creating problems for you, then yeah, get help for that if you need to. But simply twirling your hair does not create the problem.

I read once that hair twisting was just part of the animal grooming instinct. I twist my hair when it's too long. A haircut cures the habit.

The one that annoys me is all the people that claim they have obsessive-compulsive disorder. No, you really don't, you just have an annoying habit or you're stupidly fussy. I know two people very well who do have OCD, and it is an incredibly debilitating condition. Both have had extensive treatment and are functioning fine now, but they still have to constantly control the fear that comes from "if I don't do this irrational action something bad will happen". It's not fun.

I used to work as an election official, 2IC of my polling place. Both my boss and I were pretty particular about getting the count right and making sure the numbers all balanced as a point of pride. One of our employees once told me "I'm a psychiatrist, and I think you and Wendy both have OCD". I'm not entirely certain whether she was trying to be funny. She seemed serious.

She had been pretty hopeless throughout the day, and complained of paper cuts during the count (wtf?), so I didn't feel especially bad or spiteful about downgrading her performance rating :)

It's one of the worst mental illnesses, and one of the hardest to treat - along with anorexia and other eating disorders - which may or may not be related (there's a similar irrational fear there). For a lot of mental illness, we're still in the dark ages. Psychs have techniques that work sometimes, but it's still very much trial and error.

I may or may not be somewhat bipolar. But you'll never catch me using that as an excuse for anything. I know too many people with real problems. Mine is very minor and manageable.

And yeah, she was an ass who I hope isn't still practising.

I did not see the author make a super strong case for therapy in the article so I'm surprised that Amy would come out so vehemently against it (I love the blog. I'm not an Amy hater). I DO have this problem of twirling my hair around my finger until it comes out, and have suffered significant visible hair loss. Most of the time, I don't even know I'm twirling my hair. I have very curly hair. This habit started when I went away to college. I didn't realize that I was stressed, but clearly I was and I was completely on my own up there (no family assistance or contact). I've tried to break the habit, but have been unable to do so. Now I'm even more stressed out because the hair loss makes me feel so ugly. I would never visit a therapist, but just wanted to let you know that the problem itself is real and not just invented for an article.

2 reasons for not seeking therapy:

1. Too poor.

2. They all seem like quacks.

Thanks, Amy. It's very kind of you to follow up.