Stereotypic Movement Disorder

Letter to the Editor

Sir: Castellanos et al. (March 1996 issue) recently reported
that DSM-IV stereotypic movement disorder can be diagnosed
in intellectually normal adult patients. This paper is another in a
series of fascinating studies conducted by Rapoport and colleagues
on the differential response of unwanted repetitive behaviors
such as hair pulling and nail biting to clomipramine
and desipramine. The idea that such behaviors fall on an
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) spectrum of conditions
may provide a valuable heuristic in both clinical and research
settings.