Bridget Bradley

Bridget Bradley was awarded her PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 2019. Her doctoral research examined a group of complex mental disorders known as body-focused repetitive behaviours (BFRBs), in particular compulsive hair pulling (trichotillomania) and skin picking (dermatillomania).

Her research followed the ways that people with BFRBs move through diagnosis, towards sociality, and how relatedness influences patient activism and community-building. She has conducted multi-sited ethnographic research in the United Kingdom and United States, and uses methods of auto-ethnography and virtual ethnography.

Bridget considers herself an applied anthropologist, and is involved in ongoing advocacy work with the BFRB community, collaborating with her interlocutors to raise awareness and improve support options in the UK and Ireland through the newly established charitable organisation, BFRB U&I. 

More recently, Bridget's research has been exploring eco-anxiety, kinship and cliamte activism. Her project 'Eco Worrier, Eco Warrior' was funded by Scottish Funding Council in 2021.  

General research interests include: health and illness, disability, kinship, the body, gender and intersectionality, hair and beauty, applied anthropology, auto-ethnography, activism and social change, planetary health and climate change.