A 19-year-old woman with trichotillomania is taught to recognise early warning signs of hair pulling and to perform a competing response involving clenching her fists for one minute whenever the urge arises. Awareness training, stimulus control and social support are added. This specific behavioural package is called:
- A Exposure and response prevention
- B Habit reversal training ✓
- C Systematic desensitisation
- D Contingency management
Correct answer: B. Habit reversal training
Explanation
Habit reversal training is the first-line behavioural treatment for trichotillomania and tics. It combines awareness training, identification of high-risk situations, a physically incompatible competing response held until the urge passes, and relaxation plus social support. Exposure and response prevention targets obsessive compulsive disorder by exposing to feared stimuli, not by teaching an incompatible motor act, which distinguishes it clearly from this technique.
Reference: Kaplan and Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry, 12th ed.
High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP
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