Trichotillomania Test (Hair Pulling): Measure Hair Pulling Urges and Their Impact
This trichotillomania test explores hair pulling, urges, and distress using an adaptation of the MGH Hairpulling Scale. Get an instant self-assessment with a breakdown of your answers, rather than a diagnosis.
Reviewed by Michael Callans, MSW 
Trichotillomania Test (Hair Pulling) is a free, confidential 7-question self-assessment, based on the MGH Hairpulling Scale. It takes about 8 minutes, runs entirely in your browser, and gives you a plain-language score across 3 interpretation bands plus an optional in-depth report. It is an educational screening, not a diagnosis.
The urges, the pulling, and what it costs you
Hair pulling has layers: the urges that build, the pulling itself and how controllable it feels, and the distress that follows. The MGH Hairpulling Scale measures all three, because they don't always move together.
The full MGH-HPS
Seven items covering urge frequency, urge intensity, control over the urges, pulling frequency, resistance, control over the pulling, and the distress it causes. Each is rated from 0 to 4, for a total of 0 to 28.
Urges, pulling, distress
Your result breaks the total into three parts: the urges (how often and how strongly they come), the pulling behavior (how often it happens and how controllable it feels), and the emotional cost.
The past week
The scale asks about the last seven days, so your result reflects where the pulling is right now rather than your worst stretch or your whole history.
| Feature | Typical free quiz | Psychology.com |
|---|---|---|
| Research-validated MGH-HPS items | Rarely | Yes, all 7 items |
| Urge, pulling, and distress breakdown | No | Yes, scored separately |
| Honest about screening cutoffs | Vague labels | Yes, clearly explained |
| Clinician-reviewed interpretation | Rarely | Yes, clinician reviewed |
| Optional in-depth personalized report | No | Yes, written to your exact scores |
| Confidential (no data sent) | Often tracked | Runs in your browser |
How scoring works
Answers are scored 0–28 in total. Your result falls into one of 3 bands:
| Score | Band | What it suggests |
|---|---|---|
| 0–6 | Few signs of problematic pulling | Your answers suggest little or no problematic hair pulling over the past week. Occasionally tugging at a stray or coarse hair is common and usually nothing to worry about. |
| 7–13 | Mild to moderate pulling signs | Your answers suggest hair pulling is a real presence in your week, whether through urges, time, or the effort of resisting and hiding it. This is a good moment to pay attention. |
| 14–28 | Significant pulling signs | Your answers suggest hair pulling is taking a substantial toll, in urges and time and in distress or hair loss. That deserves real support, not more willpower. |
Who Takes This Trichotillomania Test
This trichotillomania test is a self-assessment of hair-pulling symptoms and their impact. People come to this screening from a few different starting points: noticing a bald patch or thinning brows they cannot explain, catching themselves pulling during a stressful call or a boring class, or a parent who found short new hairs and broken strands on a child's pillow. Adults who have pulled for years in private, and have never said the word out loud to anyone, use it too. If any of that sounds familiar, the seven questions give you a plain-language starting point for describing urges, pulling, and distress to a professional.
The MGH-HPS asks about the past week, so it works well as a one-time check or as something you retake every few weeks to see whether urges, pulling, or distress are easing. Between now and any appointment, a practice like Urge Surfing can help you ride out an urge without acting on it. If your results suggest a pattern worth attention, the Psychology.com therapist directory lists clinicians who list body-focused repetitive behaviors among their specialties.
For a related concern, the Dermatillomania Test (Skin Picking) explores picking behaviors, and the OCD Test (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) asks about obsessions and compulsions. These are separate screenings, and a result on this page does not establish either condition. The Psychology.com tests hub can help you find the self-assessment that matches the concern you want to describe.
Trichotillomania in Children and Teens
Hair pulling often begins in late childhood or early adolescence, sometimes years before anyone names it as more than a habit (Grant and Chamberlain, 2016). In young children it can resemble thumb-sucking or nail-biting and sometimes eases on its own; when pulling continues past early childhood, causes visible hair loss, or comes with clear distress, it is worth a conversation with a pediatrician.
For parents, the most useful first step is usually curiosity instead of correction. Pointing out pulling in the moment or asking a child to just stop tends to add shame without reducing the urge. Habit reversal training works for children and teens too, adapted to be shorter and more game-like, and a dermatologist can check the scalp alongside a therapist who works with young people.
This page asks the person answering to describe their own urges and distress. A parent may see pulling without knowing how it feels internally, so answering on a child's behalf changes what the result represents. Bring your observations to a pediatrician and give the child room to describe their experience in their own words.
How accurate is this trichotillomania test?
The original MGH Hairpulling Scale was developed to measure symptom severity. Its validation study found evidence of reliability and sensitivity to symptom change. This page adapts the original response descriptions into a shared agreement scale, so those findings cannot be assumed to apply unchanged to this online score.
The displayed bands are educational guides for this adaptation. They cannot confirm trichotillomania, establish the cause of hair loss, or show that a person needs a particular treatment. The urge, pulling, and distress groups organize your answers for discussion; they are not separate diagnoses. Consider the result alongside your usual pattern and any physical effects, even if the week you reported was unusually quiet.
When does hair pulling need medical attention?
Hair loss deserves assessment when its cause is uncertain, and a clinician can examine the scalp or affected skin alongside discussing pulling. Tell the clinician if you chew or swallow hair. Swallowed hair can collect in the digestive tract and sometimes cause a blockage, a concern that this questionnaire does not assess.
Seek prompt medical advice if you swallow hair, especially with abdominal pain, vomiting, unexplained weight loss, or changes in bowel movements. Severe pain or persistent vomiting warrants urgent medical assessment. You do not need a high screening score to ask for help with these symptoms.
Methodology & sources
The seven questions are adapted from the Massachusetts General Hospital Hairpulling Scale (MGH-HPS), developed by Keuthen and colleagues (1995) and still the most widely used self-report measure of trichotillomania in research. Each item asks about the past week and is rated from 0 to 4, giving a total from 0 to 28 across three areas: the urges to pull (frequency, intensity, and how controllable they feel), the pulling itself (frequency, attempts to resist, and control once it starts), and the distress associated with it. The original scale uses a different set of descriptive anchors for each item; we present all items as statements rated on a single 0 to 4 scale so the test reads smoothly, with wording adjusted for readability so the wording and response format differ from the validated instrument.
This test is provided for education and self-reflection, not diagnosis. The MGH-HPS has no single agreed clinical cutoff; research uses it mainly to track severity and change over time, with clinical samples typically averaging in the high teens and people without trichotillomania scoring near the bottom. Our bands are therefore educational guides rather than diagnostic lines: lower totals suggest few signs of problematic pulling, middle totals suggest a pattern worth attention, and higher totals suggest pulling is taking a real toll. Only a licensed clinician can diagnose trichotillomania, and because scalp, skin, and hair conditions can play a role, a dermatologist can be part of the picture too.
The original reliability and validity findings concern the research instrument, rather than this modified response format. The category labels on this page are explanatory groupings. They should not be read as independently validated subscales, and changes in the displayed score alone cannot establish improvement or worsening of a diagnosed condition.
References
- Keuthen NJ, O'Sullivan RL, Ricciardi JN, et al. The Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Hairpulling Scale: 1. Development and factor analyses. Psychother Psychosom. 1995;64(3-4):141-145. doi.org/10.1159/000289003
- O'Sullivan RL, Keuthen NJ, Hayday CF, et al. The Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Hairpulling Scale: 2. Reliability and validity. Psychother Psychosom. 1995;64(3-4):146-148. doi.org/10.1159/000289004
- Grant JE, Chamberlain SR. Trichotillomania. Am J Psychiatry. 2016;173(9):868-874. doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2016.15111432
- Bloch MH, Landeros-Weisenberger A, Dombrowski P, et al. Systematic review: pharmacological and behavioral treatment for trichotillomania. Biol Psychiatry. 2007;62(8):839-846. doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2007.05.019
- Keuthen NJ, et al. MGH Hairpulling Scale development: original study abstract. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8657844/
- O'Sullivan RL, et al. MGH Hairpulling Scale reliability and validity: original study abstract. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8657845/
- Grant JE, Chamberlain SR. Trichotillomania. Full text, including medical assessment of hair ingestion. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5328413/
Cite this source
Psychology.com. (2026, September 16). Trichotillomania Test (Hair Pulling). Psychology.com. https://psychology.com/tests/trichotillomania
Trichotillomania Test (Hair Pulling) FAQ
Is hair pulling a real mental health condition?
Yes. Trichotillomania (hair-pulling disorder) is a recognized diagnosis in the DSM-5, listed in the obsessive-compulsive and related disorders family. It is a body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB), the same family as skin picking, and it affects roughly 1 to 2 percent of people. It is a real condition with real treatments, not a bad habit or a lack of willpower.
Why can't I just stop pulling?
Because pulling runs on a habit loop, not willpower. A trigger such as stress, boredom, or the feel of a coarse or out-of-place hair sets off an urge, the pulling brings brief relief or satisfaction, and that relief teaches the brain to repeat the cycle. Much of it happens automatically, while reading or scrolling, and some is focused and deliberate. Treatment works by rewiring the loop, which is why trying harder rarely fixes it on its own.
What is the difference between trichotillomania and dermatillomania?
They are sister conditions. Trichotillomania is compulsive hair pulling and dermatillomania is compulsive skin picking. Both are body-focused repetitive behaviors, both live in the same diagnostic family, both carry heavy shame, and both respond to the same core treatment, habit reversal training. Many people experience elements of both; if picking at your skin sounds familiar too, our dermatillomania test is the matching screen.
What is habit reversal training?
Habit reversal training (HRT) is the best-studied treatment for hair pulling. It teaches you to notice the early warning signs of an episode, then perform a competing response, a small action that is incompatible with pulling, like clenching your fists or sitting on your hands, until the urge passes. Modern versions add work on the sensory, emotional, and situational triggers behind the pulling. It is practical, skills-based, and it has real evidence behind it.
Will my hair grow back?
Usually, yes. For most people hair regrows once pulling reduces, though it can take months and may come in with a different texture at first. Long-term, repeated pulling from the same spots can sometimes cause lasting thinning, which is one more reason to seek support sooner rather than later. A dermatologist can assess regrowth and rule out other causes of hair loss.
Is this the same thing as OCD?
It is related but distinct. In OCD, compulsions are usually driven by intrusive thoughts and fears, like contamination or harm. Hair pulling is usually driven by urges, tension, or the sensory pull of the hair itself, often without a scary thought behind it. If unwanted intrusive thoughts and rituals to neutralize them sound more like your experience, our OCD test may be a better fit.
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