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Trichotillomania in Backspot (2023)

Every so often I'll turn to social media and inquire about movies, books, or television shows that portray trichotillomania and/or other BFRBs. I love doing that because there are tons that I've just never heard of! Backspot being one of them.


The synopsis is as follows:

"An ambitious cheerleader, Riley (Devery Jacobs), faces new adversity, an increased drive for perfection and triumph, and a demanding head coach (Evan Rachel Wood) when she and her girlfriend are selected for an all-star cheer squad. With a competition looming, Riley must navigate her drive alongside her crippling anxiety, as one wrong move could bring her crashing to the ground."


I was able to watch it by using Amazon Prime Video. If you'd like to watch before reading this blog post, please do so!


This blog post may contain spoilers. Read with caution.


Boom! There it is!



Can you imagine my surprise when I saw Riley's patchy eyebrows within the first few seconds of the movie? I thought to myself, Okay, we are really trichotillomania-focused! Let's go!


I often find myself being strung along and anxiously waiting to finally see the part where trichotillomania comes in. One movie I watched didn't even include it at all! Remember that? I watched the whole entire thing for nothing!


So already Backspot found a place in my heart because trichotillomania was front and center almost the entire time.



Although we see Riley's patchy eyebrows right away, we don't actually see her pulling or even touching her eyebrows for quite some time. Above is the first scene where we actually see her scanning and then pulling out the hair. It is incredibly realistic and I appreciate that. I feel like I do the same exact thing! Relaxing and playing on the phone while mindlessly scanning and pulling out my hair—I just pull out my eyelashes instead of my eyebrows (at the moment).


Riley pulled out her eyebrows when she was relaxing.



In this scene Riley isn't relaxing in bed and pulling, seemingly without a care in the world. Instead she is panicking and visibly having a hard time. Trichotillomania by nature is a self-soothing behavior. It makes sense that Riley would attempt to self-soothe when she is feeling this way. Again, I can relate to this.


Riley pulled out her eyebrows when she was overwhelmed.



In this scene Riley just received amazing news. She's home in her room and decompressing from a very emotionally intense (but nonetheless exciting!) day. She's proud of herself and looking forward to the future and yet—her hands make their way to her eyebrows.


This was something that always confused me in my own journey with trichotillomania. For years I was under the impression that my trichotillomania only occurred when I encountered negative emotions but like Riley I found myself pulling when I felt positive emotions too. My trichotillomania prefers when I'm at a state of equilibrium.


Riley pulled out her eyebrows when she was happy.



This scene was so important to me because I was there many, many times. The mirror was a terrible place. All it showed me was that I was missing hair and that the makeup I used to cover it up was smudged or completely gone. Like Riley I carried my makeup with me! For these exact moments! I did not want anyone to notice—I would've killed me.


Throughout the movie you see Riley navigating her trichotillomania while also juggling a relationship, being on a physically grueling cheer team, school, a job, and more. This rings true for many of us in the trichotillomania and BFRB community. Life goes on and we have to adapt as well as we can.


Something I found interesting is that Riley never actually says she has trichotillomania—it is just implied. There are moments where it could've easily been addressed yet it wasn't. I would've liked it if someone said its name. I know there were people watching this movie who either had trichotillomania themselves and didn't know it was a "real" thing or they knew someone who did it. Saying "trichotillomania" would've been a good thing! But I'm no director so what do I know?


Overall, I think Backspot did a wonderful job portraying trichotillomania. Bravo!





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