Am J Psychiatry 1985; 142:572-576
Copyright © 1985 by American Psychiatric Association
Tricyclic antidepressants in obsessive-compulsive disorder: antiobsessional or antidepressant agents? II
M Mavissakalian, SM Turner, L Michelson and R Jacob
The authors explored the relationship between the antiobsessional and
antidepressant effects of tricyclic drugs in primary obsessive- compulsive
disorders. Study 1 consisted of a controlled 12-week trial with
clomipramine (N = 7) and placebo (N = 5); study 2 analyzed the pooled data
from 15 patients uniformly selected and treated with either clomipramine or
imipramine. Although the antiobsessional and antidepressant effects of the
drugs covaried, their antidepressant action was not a prerequisite for
their antiobsessional effect. The findings suggest that clomipramine and
probably imipramine possess specific antiobsessive effects that are at
least partially independent of their antidepressant effects.
