Treatment of early onset hair pulling as a simple habit.

The authors evaluated the effects of response prevention, a treatment previously shown to be effective for routine thumb sucking and suggested to be effective for early onset trichotillomania, applied to hair pulling in a 2-year-old. Response prevention was used alone in two settings (bedtime and naptime) and combined with a brief time out in another (daytime). The authors also used a novel assessment, weight of hairs pulled, and the results indicated complete cessation of hair pulling. Corresponding photographic evidence indicated complete regrowth of hair lost to pulling. These results add to a growing literature suggesting early onset hair pulling may be more appropriately classified as a benign habit than as trichotillomania.