Eval of OCD Treatment

• Effectiveness of drug therapies for OCD


  • Supporting research from Pigott and Seay (1999) and Soomro (2008) shows SSRI's are consistently effective in reducing OCD symptoms
  • Typically, symptoms decline significantly for around 70% of patients taking SSRI's
  • Alternative drug treatments or combinations of drugs and psychological treatments will be effective for some of the remaining 30%
• Discontinuation of medication


  High relapse rate - 45% of patients treated with clomipramine (SRI) relapsed back into the disorder within 12 weeks, compared to only 12% relapse rate for those who had received a psychological therapy
• Drug therapy does not provide a lasting cure as indicated by the fact that patients relapse within a few weeks if medication is stopped
• Psychotherapies such as CBT should be tried, although drugs are most commonly used
• Appropriateness of drug therapy for OCD

  • Some patients may suffer from side effects such as nausea, headache, insomnia, loss of sex drive, indigestion and blurred vision
  • Possible side effects of BZ's are aggressiveness, long term impairment of memory and addiction
  • Side effects reduce the effectiveness of the drug because people might stop taking the medication
• Psychological therapies may be a more appropriate choice of therapy for those who experience side effects from drug therapy
• Preferred treatment for OCD

  • Drug therapy is preferred because it is non-disruptive to the patient's life, requires little effort and time from the user, and is cheaper for the health service compared to psychological therapies
  • However, drug therapy is not successful for all OCD sufferers, suggesting the causes of OCD may not originate solely with levels of serotonin and there are other factors that play a role in its origins
• An eclectic approach to therapy may be more successful for OCD