NCT00115011

Escitalopram for the Treatment of Self-Injurious Skin Picking

• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 4
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 30 (actual)
• Sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of escitalopram in treating self-injurious skin picking.

Detailed description

Purpose: Self-injurious skin picking is a problem documented to occur in 2 % of dermatology patients (Gupta, Gupta and Haberman, 1986) , and approximately 4% of the general population (Keuthen et al., 2000). It is widely under recognized, with medical sequelae that can include scarring, infections, lesions, and potentially life-threatening outcomes (O'Sullivan et al., 1999). In a prior study, fluoxetine was shown to be superior to placebo in treating self-injurious skin picking in a modest-sized double blind trial (Simeon et al., 1997). Similarly, open-label trials of other SSRIs, including sertraline (Kalivas, Kalivas and Gilman, 1996) and fluvoxamine (Arnold et al., 1999) resulted in reductions in skin-picking behavior. Escitalopram is a new SSRI that may have superior efficacy for the treatment of major depression and fewer side effects than other SSRIs. This study aims to assess the efficacy of escitalopram in patients who suffer from self-injurious skin-picking. Comparisons: Subjects' initial scores on the CGI, HAM-D, SPTS, SPS, SPIS, BDI, BAI, QLESQ, \& BDDQ will be compared to subjects' final scores.

Conditions

• Impulse Control Disorders

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DRUG	Escitalopram

Timeline

• Start date: 2002-09-01
• Completion: 2005-11-01
• First posted: 2005-06-21
• Last updated: 2008-05-20

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States