Trichotillomania is a neurosis peculiar in its form, with no pathologic basis, the origin of which is usually some trivial occurrence which makes the subsequent extraction of hair a dominant obsession.
REPORT OF A CASE
Mr. A. H. W., aged 48, unmarried, an architect, consulted me for an uncontrollable desire to pull out the hairs of the bearded and eyebrow regions. The patient said that this condition had existed for the past six years, during which period no relief was obtained from any medical treatment. Six years ago the patient had a nasal abscess, which was characterized by a "foul, putrid, wormy odor," and was relieved by the extraction of a nasal hair. Since this attack the patient had been subject to "head colds" and an associated desire to extract hairs had developed. The recurrence of the nasal odor, previously described, has become a constant feature with the head colds,