Behavioral Treatment and Memantine in Body Focused Repetitive Behaviors

Running, not enrolling · Phase 2/Phase 3

Conditions studied: Skin-Picking, Trichotillomania (Hair-Pulling Disorder)

In brief

The goal of the proposed study is to compare the efficacy of behavioral treatment (BT) to memantine, a psychopharmacological agent, for BFRBs. 28 subjects with trichotillomania (TTM) or skin picking disorder (SPD) will receive 8 weeks of memantine treatment, followed by 8 weeks of comprehensive behavioral therapy (ComB) treatment. The hypothesis to be tested is that behavioral therapy will be associated with superior clinical outcomes as compared to memantine. A second hypothesis is that both memantine and behavioral therapy will demonstrate improvement from baseline to the respective posttreatment assessment.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT05796752

Run by

University of Chicago

People needed

26

Starts

2023-08-02

Expected to finish

2027-06-01

Last updated by the study team

2026-07-07

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Men and women ages 18+
• Current DSM-5 diagnosis of trichotillomania (TTM) or skin picking disorder (SPD)
• Ability to understand and sign the consent form
• Stable dose of medications for at least the past 3 months

You may not qualify if…

• Unstable medical illness based on history or clinically significant abnormalities on baseline physical examination
• Current pregnancy or lactation, or inadequate contraception in women of childbearing potential
• Subjects considered an immediate suicide risk based on the Columbia Suicide Severity rating Scale (C-SSRS)
• Past 12-month DSM-5 diagnosis of psychosis, bipolar disorder, mania, or a substance or alcohol use disorder
• Illegal substance use based on urine toxicology screening
• Previous treatment with memantine
• Previous trial of ComB or similar BT protocol (e,g., habit reversal training)
• Cognitive impairment that interferes with the capacity to understand and self-administer medication or provide written informed consent

Where it is running

• University of Chicago Medical Center — Chicago, Illinois, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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