Trichotillomania in Alice, Darling (2022)

I've finally watched this movie!

A few years ago, my husband and I were walking our dog on our usual route which happened to be near a movie theatre. We'd glance at the new movie posters in their display cases and surmise what movie we'd see next. Alice, Darling was one of those movies.

This was the poster.

I mean, come on! The second I laid eyes on it I knew I had to see this movie. Clearly something with hair pulling was happening. Could it really be trichotillomania?

I turned to my husband and said, "We have to see this!" but then something weird happened.

We looked online for the tickets once the release date had passed and they weren't available. The movie itself wasn't available. What the hell?

The movie theatre that was in walking distance from our house wasn't showing it but then neither was any theatre near us. Alice, Darling disappeared.

A short time later the movie theatre did too.

Our beautiful Downtown West Palm Beach was changing. What once held a movie theatre, comedy club, and a few delicious restaurants was being torn down. It devastated us! Look at how whimsical the movie theatre was!

Downtown West Palm Beach is still beautiful and becoming more beautiful as the days pass but all of that will be missed.

And so, it took me years to finally see Alice, Darling but I'm so happy I did.

There may be spoilers beyond this point. Continue reading with caution.

From the moment you meet Alice she is pulling out her hair.

And she continues to pull out her hair the entire movie BUT her hair pulling looks a bit different from my experience and from many of the people I've spoken to. Rather than pulling out one or a few hairs at a time from the root, Alice rips off the bottom of her hair in little chunks. Exactly like what the movie poster shows.

You see Alice do this in the car, in the bathroom, and whenever she's alone lost in thought. For Alice this behavior seems to be her way of coping and self-soothing. She isn't doing it to hurt herself but to calm herself down.

Viewers learn that Alice's boyfriend is abusive and that she is constantly walking on eggshells even when she isn't around him. Her constant worrying about making him upset is wrecking her mental health.

At a particularly pivotal part in the movie you see Alice pull out her hair with both hands at once and with much more hair being removed.

Even though, as I mentioned previously, Alice's behavior is different from mine, it's still trichotillomania. I've interviewed someone on my podcast who pulls out her hair the same way! It doesn't make their experience with trichotillomania any less valid. Hair pulling is hair pulling.

Did I like the movie? Yes

Would I recommend it? Yes

Was trichotillomania mentioned by name? No

Did I like the way trichotillomania was represented? Yes