Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
- Epidemiology
- Comorbidity
- OCD and Tic Disorder
- OCD and Depression
- OCD and Other Anxiety Disorders
- OCD and Phobia
- OCD and OCPD
- OCD and Schizophrenia
- Course and Prognosis
- Etiology
- Specific Clinical Response
- Serotonin Antagonists
- Pharmacological Challenges
- Dopamine
- Immune Factors
- Brain Imaging Studies
- Genetics
- Other Biological Data
- Behavioral Factors
- Psychosocial Factors
- Treatment of OCD
- Efficacy of Serotonergic vs Adrenergic Antidepressants
- Long Term Treatment of OCD
- Drug Dosage
- Psychological Approaches
- Treatment Resistant OCD
- Switching Medications
- Augmentation
- Risperidone
- Pindolol
- Other Options
- Intravenous Clomipramine
- Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors
- Last-line Therapies
Long Term Treatment of OCD: Alternative, Medication, Condition and Assessment
It has been demonstrated that the length of treatment should be considerable and that most patients relapse after premature discontinuation. Pato et al. (1988) reported that 16 out of 18 patients with OCD relapsed within seven weeks after discontinuing CMI, although some had been treated for more than a year (mean= 10.7 months). All patients regained therapeutic effects when CMI was reintroduced. Leonard et al. (1991) examined the effect of CMI substitution during long-term CMI treatment in 26 children and adolescents with OCD (mean duration of treatment was 17 months). Half of the patients were blindly assigned to two months of desipramine (DMI) treatment, and then CMI was reintroduced. Almost 90% relapsed during the twomonth substitution period in comparison with only 18% of those kept on CMI. It seems advisable for OCD patients to be maintained on antiobsessive medications for more than a year before a very gradual attempt to discontinue the treatment is carried out. The required maintenance dose in OCD is also unclear. In a study that examined this issue, investigated the effect of dose reduction in 30 patients previously treated successfully with CMI or fluoxetine. Patients were randomized to receive the same drug dosage, to receive a reduced dose or a very reduced dose. There was no difference found between the groups during the 102 days of the study.