Severe hair-pulling is characteristic of trichotillomania, an impulse control disorder not otherwise classified. Other pathological habits, including severe nail-biting and skin-picking, are also prevalent and are potentially diagnosable as stereotypic movement disorder. There is increasing awareness of the morbidity associated with these kind of habit disorders but, to date, relatively few ran...

In this study, habit reversal was evaluated as a treatment for skin picking in typically developing adult male siblings using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across participants design. Results showed socially valid decreases in reported picking as a result of treatment.

Skin Picking Disorder affects 4% of the general population, with serious quality of life impacts, and potentially life threatening complications. Standard psychoactive medications do not help most patients. Similarly, Mouse Ulcerative Dermatitis (skin lesions caused by excessive abnormal grooming behavior) is very common in widely used inbred strains of mice, and represents a serious animal wel...

Dermatillomania is characterized by excessive and repeated skin picking sufficient to damage cutaneous tissue, but with no underlying dermatological disease. The condition appears as an independent diagnosis in the Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition. A psychiatric pathology is generally reported to acco...

Few studies have examined the relationship between heart rate and self-injurious behavior (SIB) shown by individuals with IDD (intellectual and developmental disabilities). In this single-case study, we simultaneously monitored heart rate and activity levels during a functional analysis of severe skin picking behavior exhibited by a young man with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). Results of the fun...