Psychosocial dysfunction associated with skin picking disorder and trichotillomania

Skin picking disorder (SPD) and trichotillomania (TTM) are common and oftentimes disabling disorders. 125 Participants with SPD and 152 with TTM undertook clinical and neurocognitive evaluation, and were grouped according to mild, moderate, or severe levels of psychosocial dysfunction. Relationships between functional impairment and other variables were explored using linear regression and categorical analyses. Greater functional impairment was associated with worse disease severity in both groups, and by later symptom onset and lower quality of life in TTM subjects. These results indicate that levels of self-reported psychosocial dysfunction have a strong association with specific clinical aspects of SPD and TTM.