Conditions: Onychophagia
Keywords: Anxiety Impulse control Depression ADHD Fingernail Biting N-Acetylcysteine NAC
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 23
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
To conduct a pilot randomized placebo-controlled feasibility trial of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) in onychophagia, preliminarily assessing the tolerability and effects of this pharmacotherapy on young adults who bite their fingernails. It is proposed that NAC will help decrease fingernail biting.

Detailed description:
This is a proof-of-concept pilot placebo-controlled trial of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) in young people who bite fingernails. The primary interest is in assessing the feasibility of conducting this line of research, while preliminarily exploring potential effects on nail biting, as measured by nail length.

Arms:
arm 1: Oral N-acetylcysteine 1200 mg twice daily dosing for 8 weeks arm 2: Oral placebo (matched in appearance to active treatment) twice daily dosing for 8 weeks

Interventions: intervention 1: N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) intervention 2: Placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: This is the medication N-acetylcysteine (NAC) intervention 2: Placebo, designed to match in appearance to NAC

Protocol document: