Am J Psychiatry 1995; 152:1192-1196
Copyright © 1995 by American Psychiatric Association
A long-term, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial of the efficacy of fluoxetine for trichotillomania
SM Streichenwein and JI Thornby
Department of Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
OBJECTIVE: The authors' objective was to determine the efficacy of
fluoxetine at high doses for the treatment of trichotillomania in a
long-term, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial. METHOD:
Twenty-three adult chronic hair pullers agreed to take part in the trial,
taking fluoxetine doses of up to 80 mg/day. The 31-week trial consisted of
a 2-week washout phase, a first treatment phase of 12 weeks, a 5-week
washout phase, and a crossover second treatment phase of 12 weeks. Sixteen
patients (14 women and two men) completed the trial. RESULTS: There were no
significant differences between fluoxetine and placebo treatments for the
measures of weekly severity of hair pulling, weekly severity of urge to
pull, daily hair counts (or estimated hair pulled), or days of hair
pulling. CONCLUSIONS: The efficacy of fluoxetine in the treatment of
trichotillomania was not demonstrated in this study.
