Impulsivity in adolescents diagnosed with trichotillomania: Evaluation of clinical and neuropsychological characteristics

Trichotillomania (TTM) is a psychiatric disease characterized by repetitive hair pulling behavior that leading to hair loss or thinning and impaired functionality. An evaluation of body literature reveals that impulsivity is frequently investigated as a potential "neurocognitive endophenotype". However, there are very few empirical studies investigating impulsivity in child and adolescents with TTM. This study is designed as a cross-sectional case-control study to compare the clinical and neuropsychological features of impulsivity in adolescents with TTM and healthy control groups and to evaluate the relationship between impulsivity and TTM and accompanying anxiety and depression symptoms. The sample of the study consisted of 43 adolescents aged 12-18 years, 23 with TTM and 20 healthy controls. All participants filled in the Sociodemographic Data Form, the Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale Child Version (RCADS-CV), Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-Brief (BIS-B) and Massachusetts General Hospital Hairpulling Scale (MGH-HPS). K-SADS-PL was implemented by the clinician as a standart diagnostic tool to assess the comorbid psychiatric diseases in the case group and to exclude the psychiatric disease in the healthy control group. The impulsivity of all adolescents was assessed behaviorally by using Eriksen Flanker Task, Stop Signal Reaction Time Task, Go/ No Go Task and Balloon Analog Risk Test (BART). Results showed that the adolescents with TTM, controlling for age, reported higher levels of anxiety and depression symptoms and impulsivity on self-reported measures and performed worse behavioral tasks (Stop Signal Reaction Time and BART) compared to healthy controls and social anxiety symptoms predicted TTM severity..The findings of this study suggest that different dimensions of impulsivity should be evaluated in order to better understand the neurocognitive aspects of TTM