Am J Psychiatry 1988; 145:1521-1525
Copyright © 1988 by American Psychiatric Association
Return of symptoms after discontinuation of clomipramine in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder
MT Pato, R Zohar-Kadouch, J Zohar and DL Murphy
Laboratory of Clinical Science, NIMH, Bethesda, MD 20892.
To evaluate the need for maintenance drug therapy in patients with
obsessive-compulsive disorder, the authors assessed 21 patients with
obsessive-compulsive disorder who manifested sustained improvement during 5
to 27 months of clomipramine treatment and who agreed to participate in a
double-blind discontinuation study. Of 18 patients who completed the study,
16 had substantial recurrence of obsessive- compulsive symptoms by the end
of the 7-week placebo period. In addition, 11 had a significant increase in
depressive symptoms. Treatment duration before discontinuation of
clomipramine was not related to the frequency or severity of
obsessive-compulsive or depressive symptom appearance. These findings
suggest that prolonged drug treatment may be warranted for
obsessive-compulsive disorder.
