Nonclinical hair-pulling: affective correlates and comparison with clinical samples

The purposes of the current study were to examine the affective states associated with hair-pulling in a nonclinical sample and to compare levels of general psychopathology in nonclinical hair-pullers and clinic patients with trichotillomania (TM) or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Subjects included 66 college undergraduates who engaged in hair-pulling unrelated to grooming, 18 patients with TM and 29 patients with OCD. Dimensional (but not categorical) ratings of affective experiences in the nonclinical sample indicated that hair-pulling was associated with decreases in tension, boredom, anger and sadness. Further, the relationship between emotional experiences before and after hair-pulling was more salient than the pre-during relationship conceptualized as central in current diagnostic criteria for TM. Comparisons of psychopathology in nonclinical and clinical samples failed to support a continuum notion of increasing symptomatology in nonclinical pullers, TM patients and individuals with OCD. Some evidence of increased pathology in nonclinical pullers relative to TM patients was obtained, as was further support for a distinction between TM and OCD. Implications of this investigation for conceptualization of TM are discussed.