Pharmacotherapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 13, 2026

Signal Attenuation as a Rat Model of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Published on: January 9, 2015
E Hollander1, A Kaplan, A Allen
1Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA. eric.hollander@mssm.edu
Abstract:
SSRIs and the tricyclic antidepressant clomipramine are the first-line therapies for patients with OCD, with the side-effect profile of SSRIs being more favorable than that of clomipramine. As many as 40% to 60% of patients with OCD may not respond to adequate trials of SRIs. Not all patients tolerate SSRIs, and delays in full therapeutic responses often occur. Thus, other pharmacologic approaches to treating patients with OCD have been investigated. Augmentation and monotherapy have been explored with serotonergic enhancers, dopamine and 5-HT antagonists, enhancers of second-messenger systems, and GABAergic agents with varying efficacy.
Related Concept Videos
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Psychosis: Goals of Pharmacotherapy
Operant Conditioning Intervention
In operant conditioning, behaviors that are...
Drug Therapy
Antianxiety Medications
Antidepressant Drugs: MAOIs and Other Agents
Behavior Therapy
Exposure therapy is a cornerstone of behavioral treatment for anxiety disorders. It involves systematic exposure to feared stimuli, either in real...
