Comparison of paroxetine versus Fluvoxamine in Trichotillomania Management

Trichotillomania is an impulse control disorder that leads to obvious hair loss. Several treatments are supposed to be effective but there are not enough data to compare effect of this treatment. The aim of this study is to compare effectiveness of treatment with Fluvoxamine vs. Paroxetine in patients with Trichotillomania. in this study 58 patients were randomly assigned into two therapeutic groups of Paroxetine and Fluvoxamine treatments. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) questionnaire was translated into Persian and administered to both groups before the beginning of treatment and 4 weeks & 12 weeks after treatment; patients discontinued the treatment and left the study. Data analysis was done with independent T-test & paired T-test & the data were analyzed using SPSS-20 software. In the group of patients with Fluvoxamine treatment, Effectiveness of therapy in 12th week was greater than 4th week, whereas the effectiveness of treatment with Paroxetine was seen in both 4th week & 12th week after initiation of therapy and was more effective than fluvoxamine. regarding the comparison of two therapeutic methods, the effect of Fluvoxamine was started in 12 weeks whereas the therapeutic effect for Paroxetine was both in 4 week & 12 weeks. This shows that patients with Paroxetine treatment responds more rapidly therefore have better therapeutic response.