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Antipsychotics suppress OCD
symptoms-study
 NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - People suffering with
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) who do not respond adequately to
antidepressant therapy may benefit from the addition of an antipsychotic agent,
results of a study hint.
While
antidepressants are commonly used to treat OCD, approximately half of patients
do not respond to these drugs when used alone, study investigators explain in a
report in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
Dr.
Xiaohua Li, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and associates tested
whether adding an antipsychotic might help these non-responders.
They had
12 patients with severe OCD on "stable-dose" antidepressant therapy add
risperidone (1 milligram daily), haloperidol (2 milligrams daily) or placebo for
2 weeks each in a crossover fashion, with a 2-week placebo washout period
between treatments.
Li and
colleagues report that both antipsychotics led to a rapid and significant
reduction in OCD behavior compared with placebo.
Considering that the patients had severe lingering OCD symptoms during
antidepressant treatment only, "a significant reduction in obsession within 2
weeks of treatment initiation with each drug is notable," the authors comment.
Both
drugs also significantly reduced anxiety among the patients and risperidone, but
not haloperidol, also improved depressed mood and enhanced overall well-being,
the authors report.
Five
subjects discontinued haloperidol before the 2-week phase was complete due to
side effects such as lethargy (sluggishness) or dystonia (prolonged, repetitive
muscle contractions), whereas all of the participants completed the risperidone
phase.
This
study, say the authors, suggests that adding an antipsychotic to an
antidepressant may be of benefit in OCD patients who do not respond to
antidepressant therapy alone.
SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Psychiatry June 2005.
Wed July 13, 2005
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