Am J Psychiatry 1996; 153:1219-1221
Copyright © 1996 by American Psychiatric Association
Inositol treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder
M Fux, J Levine, A Aviv and RH Belmaker
Ministry of Health Mental Health Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheva, Israel.
OBJECTIVE: Earlier studies reported that inositol, a simple polyol second
messenger precursor, was effective in controlled trials for patients with
depression and panic. In this study its effectiveness in
obsessive-compulsive disorder was investigated. METHOD: Thirteen patients
with obsessive-compulsive disorder completed a double-blind, controlled
crossover trial of 18 g/day of inositol or placebo for 6 weeks each.
RESULTS: The subjects had significantly lower scores on the Yale-Brown
Obsessive Compulsive Scale when taking inositol than when taking placebo.
CONCLUSIONS: The authors conclude that inositol is effective in depression,
panic, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, a spectrum of disorders
responsive to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
