A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of olanzapine in the treatment of trichotillomania.

BACKGROUND: Trichotillomania has been considered as part of the obsessive-compulsive disorder spectrum; however, trichotillomania treatment with obsessive-compulsive disorder medications has largely been unsuccessful.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether a dopaminergic treatment as used in tics and Tourette's syndrome would be effective in trichotillomania.

METHOD: Twenty-five participants with DSM-IV trichotillomania participated in a 12-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of flexible-dose olanzapine for trichotillomania. Recruitment occurred between August 2001 and December 2005, and follow-up was completed in February 2006. The primary outcome measure was the Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement (CGI-I) scale, and secondary measures of efficacy included the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale for Trichotillomania (TTM-YBOCS) and the Clinical Global Impressions-Severity of Illness (CGI-S) scale.

RESULTS: Eleven of 13 participants (85%) in the olanzapine group and 2 of 12 (17%) in the placebo group were considered responders according to the CGI-I (P = .001). There was a significant change from baseline to end point in the TTM-YBOCS (P < .01) and the CGI-S (P < .001). The mean ± SD dose of olanzapine at end point was 10.8 ± 5.7 mg/d. Twenty-one of 25 patients (84%) reported at least 1 adverse event, but no adverse events resulted in early withdrawal from the study.

CONCLUSION: Olanzapine seems to be a safe and effective treatment for primary DSM-IV trichotillomania.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00182507.