BROMIDROSIPHOBIA

There exist a few small groups of nervous and mental disorders which involve the skin only secondarily, and which cannot logically be classified with the true neurodermatoses. Despite this fact, it is on the dermatologist that the responsibility of their clinical recognition largely rests. The more common of these affections, such as trichotillomania¹ and trichokryptomania belong in the category of "tics," or habit spasms. Next in frequency of occurrence are some of the various fear psychoses, which are characterized by a morbid dread of parasitic contamination, and of which acarophobia² and syphilophobia are typical examples. By patient and careful questioning, one can occasionally uncover the basis on which a fear of this kind rests, and, if the patient is sufficiently intelligent, the possibility of infection ever having taken place can be explained away. I once encountered such an instance in the case of a young woman who for