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I just discovered a couple of articles pointing to evidence that trichotillomania is comorbid with schizophrenia, dysthymia (neurotic depression), and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
From Essentials of Psychiatry (2011), p. 285:
"...approximately 82% of an adult sample met criteria for a past or current comorbid Axis I disorder, the most common being affective, anxiety, and addictive disorders. Of the patients with comorbid disorders, there was a lifetime prevalence rate of 65% for mood disorders, 57% for anxiety disorders, 22% for substance abuse disorders, 20% for eating disorders, and 42% for personality disorders. The most frequently cited comorbid personality disorders are histrionic, borderline, and obsessive-compulsive."
This is interesting to me because I have trich, and because my brother is a diagnosed full-blown paranoid schizophrenic. My father's family history is beset with bizarre, violent, and suicidal behavior; at least since the generation of my paternal great-grandfather, who's sister killed five of her children by shooting them in the barn, burned down the house with the sixth child inside, and then drowned herself in the Mississippi river. One of my paternal grandfather's cousins (so the niece of the above great-aunt) committed suicide, and another was a possible suicide -- he disappeared off the back of a riverboat. Maybe it was an accident and maybe it wasn't. Another cousin from this same generation in the Hospital for the Insane in Jackson, MS. And then there's my paternal grandfather, who murdered a man and spent his sentence in a mental hospital for it. I have long suspected that there is undiagnosed schizophrenia in my paternal line.
What does this mean for me? Will I develop schizophrenia? As of a couple of years ago, when I talked to a psychologist about my brother, it doesn't seem likely. However, I am intrigued by the comorbidity of trich and schizophrenia, as well as the other disorders, and what that might mean long-term and over generations. I also have dermotographia, a relatively rare skin disorder, and I've wondered if THAT is connected as well, but so little research has been done on trich that it could be comorbid with feline AIDS and we wouldn't know.
From Essentials of Psychiatry (2011), p. 285:
"...approximately 82% of an adult sample met criteria for a past or current comorbid Axis I disorder, the most common being affective, anxiety, and addictive disorders. Of the patients with comorbid disorders, there was a lifetime prevalence rate of 65% for mood disorders, 57% for anxiety disorders, 22% for substance abuse disorders, 20% for eating disorders, and 42% for personality disorders. The most frequently cited comorbid personality disorders are histrionic, borderline, and obsessive-compulsive."
This is interesting to me because I have trich, and because my brother is a diagnosed full-blown paranoid schizophrenic. My father's family history is beset with bizarre, violent, and suicidal behavior; at least since the generation of my paternal great-grandfather, who's sister killed five of her children by shooting them in the barn, burned down the house with the sixth child inside, and then drowned herself in the Mississippi river. One of my paternal grandfather's cousins (so the niece of the above great-aunt) committed suicide, and another was a possible suicide -- he disappeared off the back of a riverboat. Maybe it was an accident and maybe it wasn't. Another cousin from this same generation in the Hospital for the Insane in Jackson, MS. And then there's my paternal grandfather, who murdered a man and spent his sentence in a mental hospital for it. I have long suspected that there is undiagnosed schizophrenia in my paternal line.
What does this mean for me? Will I develop schizophrenia? As of a couple of years ago, when I talked to a psychologist about my brother, it doesn't seem likely. However, I am intrigued by the comorbidity of trich and schizophrenia, as well as the other disorders, and what that might mean long-term and over generations. I also have dermotographia, a relatively rare skin disorder, and I've wondered if THAT is connected as well, but so little research has been done on trich that it could be comorbid with feline AIDS and we wouldn't know.
