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When I've been overtaken, I have stood and watched the water in my porridge simmer away into the air, and then the oats turn black and crackle with dryness, and my ears fill with the smoke alarm's shriek.
'When Adele Dumont is diagnosed with trichotillomania - compulsive hair-pulling - it makes sense of much of her life to date. The seemingly harmless quirk of her late teens, which rapidly developed into almost uncontrollable urges and then into trance-like episodes, is a hallmark of the disease, as is the secrecy with which she guarded her condition from her family, friends, and the world at large.
'The diagnosis also opens up a rich line of inquiry. Where might the origins of this condition be found? How can we distinguish between a nervous habit and a compulsion? And how do we balance the relief of being 'seen' by others with our experience of shame?
'Reminiscent of the writing of Leslie Jamison and Fiona Wright, The Pulling is a fascinating exploration of the inner workings of a mind. In perfectly judged prose, both probing and affecting, Dumont illuminates how easily ritual can slide into obsession, and how close beneath the surface horror and darkness can lie.'(Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Trichotillomania : Adele Dumont’s Memoir in Chapters
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 463 2024; (p. 47)
— Review of The Pulling 2024 selected work autobiography essay '‘In the year of my birth, trichotillomania did not exist,’ writes Adele Dumont. Hair-pulling has been depicted in human culture for millennia: in Greek myth, in the Bible, in painting and sculpture, and, most commonly, in vernacular expression (‘I’m tearing my hair out’). But hair-pulling as a compulsive, recurring behaviour – trichotillomania – was only named in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 1987. Formal psychiatric diagnosis has become the dominant means by which we understand emotional distress, but this has happened very recently, and diagnosis can leave the sufferer, as Dumont writes, feeling ‘categorised’ and struggling to articulate those aspects of their illness that may seem, in spite of everything, like comfort.' (Introduction) -
Breaking Open Mental Illness Narratives
2024
single work
essay
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , March 2024; 'To examine one’s mental health in literature is to do the difficult work of overcoming shame and transforming the ineffable into words. Two new releases break form to share personal stories that hold room for ambiguities of the mind.'(Introduction)
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“An Unfathomable, Shapeshifting Thing”
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: Inside Story , March 2024;
— Review of The Pulling 2024 selected work autobiography essay'Writer Adele Dumont charts trichotillomania — compulsive hair-pulling — from the inside out'
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‘I Wanted to Stop … but I Also Wanted to Pull’ . 1 in 50 People Have Trichotillomania – a New Memoir Unpacks Compulsive Hair-pulling
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 19 March 2024;
— Review of The Pulling 2024 selected work autobiography essay'Towards the end of Adele Dumont’s affecting memoir The Pulling, she thanks the reader, her “stranger”, for the opportunity to unburden herself of her compulsion of 17 years (and since the age of 17): to pull out strands of her hair, regularly and frequently. As a result, a large section of her scalp would eventually lay bare, yet cleverly concealed from others.' (Publication summary)
-
Adele Dumont The Pulling
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 4 March 2024;
— Review of The Pulling 2024 selected work autobiography essay'Halfway through the essay collection The Pulling, Sydney-based author Adele Dumont tells the reader: “There is one thing more I have kept from you … truth be told I have come to despise the word, so ugly, so clinical: trichotillomania.”' (Introduction)
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‘Poetic’, ‘Fearless’, ‘A Creative Triumph’: The Best Australian Books Out in February
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 4 February 2024;
— Review of My Brilliant Sister 2024 single work novel ; We All Lived in Bondi Then 2024 selected work short story ; Politica 2024 single work novel ; The Great Undoing 2024 single work novel ; Monument 2024 selected work poetry prose ; The Pulling 2024 selected work autobiography essay ; All the Words We Know 2024 single work novel ; The Next Big Thing 2024 single work novel -
Adele Dumont The Pulling
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 4 March 2024;
— Review of The Pulling 2024 selected work autobiography essay'Halfway through the essay collection The Pulling, Sydney-based author Adele Dumont tells the reader: “There is one thing more I have kept from you … truth be told I have come to despise the word, so ugly, so clinical: trichotillomania.”' (Introduction)
-
‘I Wanted to Stop … but I Also Wanted to Pull’ . 1 in 50 People Have Trichotillomania – a New Memoir Unpacks Compulsive Hair-pulling
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 19 March 2024;
— Review of The Pulling 2024 selected work autobiography essay'Towards the end of Adele Dumont’s affecting memoir The Pulling, she thanks the reader, her “stranger”, for the opportunity to unburden herself of her compulsion of 17 years (and since the age of 17): to pull out strands of her hair, regularly and frequently. As a result, a large section of her scalp would eventually lay bare, yet cleverly concealed from others.' (Publication summary)
-
“An Unfathomable, Shapeshifting Thing”
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: Inside Story , March 2024;
— Review of The Pulling 2024 selected work autobiography essay'Writer Adele Dumont charts trichotillomania — compulsive hair-pulling — from the inside out'
-
Trichotillomania : Adele Dumont’s Memoir in Chapters
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 463 2024; (p. 47)
— Review of The Pulling 2024 selected work autobiography essay '‘In the year of my birth, trichotillomania did not exist,’ writes Adele Dumont. Hair-pulling has been depicted in human culture for millennia: in Greek myth, in the Bible, in painting and sculpture, and, most commonly, in vernacular expression (‘I’m tearing my hair out’). But hair-pulling as a compulsive, recurring behaviour – trichotillomania – was only named in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 1987. Formal psychiatric diagnosis has become the dominant means by which we understand emotional distress, but this has happened very recently, and diagnosis can leave the sufferer, as Dumont writes, feeling ‘categorised’ and struggling to articulate those aspects of their illness that may seem, in spite of everything, like comfort.' (Introduction) -
I’m a Compulsive Journal Writer but I’d Never Mentioned My Secret on Paper. Writing Helped Me Regain Control
2024
single work
column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 29 January 2024; 'Finding the words about her compulsive hair-pulling helped author Adele Dumont find power over her illness – and also a type of revenge' -
Breaking Open Mental Illness Narratives
2024
single work
essay
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , March 2024; 'To examine one’s mental health in literature is to do the difficult work of overcoming shame and transforming the ineffable into words. Two new releases break form to share personal stories that hold room for ambiguities of the mind.'(Introduction)