CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 601Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum DisordersAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesPsychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research

A double-blind comparison of clomipramine and desipramine in the treatment of trichotillomania (hair pulling)

Swedo, Susan E., Leonard, Henrietta L., Rapoport, Judith L., Lenane, Marge C., Goldberger, Erica L., Cheslow, Deborah L.·1989·New England Journal of Medicine
DOI 10.1056/nejm198908243210803
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Trichotillomania, an irresistible impulse to pull out one's own hair, is a chronic psychiatric illness that causes severe discomfort, interferes with daily activities, and leads to social isolation. Treatment is usually unsatisfactory. Thirteen women with severe trichotillomania completed a 10-week double-blind, crossover trial of clomipramine, a new tricyclic antidepressant agent with selective antiobsessional effects, and desipramine, a standard tricyclic antidepressant. Treatment with clomipramine resulted in significantly greater improvement in symptoms than desipramine, as indicated by physicians' ratings of the women's clinical progress on a scale in which lower scores indicate improvement (mean [+/- SD] scores: at base line, 10.0; after desipramine treatment, 8.7 +/- 2.4; after clomipramine treatment, 4.7 +/- 3.1; P = 0.006) and by scores on a trichotillomania-impairment scale, in which higher scores indicate greater impairment (at base line, 6.8 +/- 1.7; after desipramine treatment, 6.2 +/- 1.7; after clomipramine treatment, 4.2 +/- 2.7; P = 0.03). The severity of symptoms (mean base-line score, 15.9 +/- 3.8) was reduced more by clomipramine (10.6 +/- 6.4) than by desipramine (14.4 +/- 3.9). The patients reported that the compulsion decreased in intensity and that they were more able to resist the urge to pull out their hair during treatment with clomipramine. We conclude that clomipramine appears to be effective in the short-term treatment of trichotillomania.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1056/nejm198908243210803

Cites

31 of 31 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • The NIMH-TSS has reported sensitivity to changes in symptom severity, adequate to excellent interrater reliability, and good concurrent validity with self-reported measures of TTM severity.

    “This scale has reported sensitivity to changes in symptom severity, adequate to excellent interrater reliability, and good concurrent validity with self-reported measures of TTM severity.”

    From Dbt-enhanced cognitive-behavioral treatment for trichotillomania: A randomized controlled trial (2012) · cites this paper as Swedo et al., 1989

  • The NIMH-TIS has limited psychometric data, though inter-rater reliability scores have ranged from adequate to excellent, good concurrent validity has been reported, and scale scores are sensitive to changes in symptom severity with treatment.

    “Psychometric data are limited, though inter-rater reliability scores have ranged from adequate to excellent, good concurrent validity has been reported, and scale scores are sensitive to changes in symptom severity with treatment.”

    From Dbt-enhanced cognitive-behavioral treatment for trichotillomania: A randomized controlled trial (2012) · cites this paper as Swedo et al., 1989

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Swedo, S. E., Leonard, H. L., Rapoport, J. L., Lenane, M. C., Goldberger, E. L., & Cheslow, D. L.
Affiliations
National Institute of Mental Health (US)
ORCID
Swedo, Susan E.
Venue
New England Journal of Medicine
Publisher
Massachusetts Medical Society
Published
1989-08-24
Volume
321
Issue
8
Pages
497-501
ISSN
  • 0028-4793 (ISSN-L)
  • 1533-4406
DOI
10.1056/nejm198908243210803
OpenAlex
W2325821938
Cited by
601
References
31
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 45
FWCI
35.31
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • New England Journal of Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
Keywords
trichotillomania, clomipramine, desipramine, tricyclic antidepressants, compulsive hair pulling, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, treatment efficacy, women
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Clomipramine, Desipramine, Double-Blind Method, Female, Humans, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Trichotillomania

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review