Trichotillomania (compulsive hair pulling) helped by N-acetylcysteine

This very welcome paper recently published in the Archives of General Psychiatry reports on a double-blind, placebo-controlled study that proved the effectiveness of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) in the reduction of compulsive behavior, specifically trichotillomania (repetitive hair pulling). N-acetylcysteine is an amino acid, native to the body, that has many virtues; we use it here for a variety of proven benefits. The authors conclude that their study "found that N-acetylcysteine demonstrated statistically significant reductions in trichotillomania symptoms...modulation of the glutamate system [with NAC] may prove to be useful in the control of a range of compulsive behaviors."