title: Auditory Hallucinations with an Unusual Content.
abstract: Recurrent hair pulling resulting in hair loss, in the absence of a medical or another mental disorder is a diagnostic feature of trichotillomania. It is commonly seen in depression and many other psychiatric disorders. Trichotillomania rarely occurs as a co morbid condition in patients with schizophrenia. Even rarer is recurrent hair pulling in response to psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia. We present the case of a young adult male who presented with recurrent hair pulling due to command auditory hallucinations and discuss the salient differentiating features of hair pulling seen in our patient and hair pulling in patients with trichotillomania.
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences , Ganagachettikulam, Kalapet, Pondicherry, India .
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Solomon
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences , Ganagachettikulam, Kalapet, Pondicherry, India .
authors.forename: Ramanathan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Singaravelu
keywords: Command auditory hallucinations; Hair pulling; Schizophrenia; Trichotillomania