After reviewing the results of various studies on the benefits of taking common antidepressant medications for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), researchers at St. George’s Hospital Medical School in London, led by Dr. Ghulam Mustafa Soomro, have concluded that patients are twice as likely to experience relief of symptoms than patients taking placebos.

Although common antidepressants, such as Zoloft and Prozac, proved beneficial in reducing OCD symptoms, the potential for adverse side effects must also be considered when prescribing these drugs. Some common side effects from these and other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are insomnia, sexual dysfunction, and nausea.

The more common therapy for treating OCD is to learn what triggers symptoms and to then learn how to confront the triggers. Once that step is achieved, the patient must then learn to tolerate triggers so he or she can be weaned from the distressing behaviors produced by the disorder.

While this form of behavioral therapy has proven to be effective, about 1 in 4 OCD patients refuse it. It is believed that supplementing this traditional treatment with SSRIs may prove even more effective than the behavioral treatment alone and perhaps entice those who refuse it to try it after all.

The full review of studies can be found in the current issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an organization chartered to evaluate and review medical research from around the world.

Source: Cochrane Library