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Placebo-controlled study of pimozide augmentation of fluoxetine in body dysmorphic disorder
1Brown Medical School and Butler Hospital, 345 Blackstone Blvd., Providence, RI 02906, USA. Katharine_Phillips@brown.edu
Objective:
Although body dysmorphic disorder often responds to serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs), most patients do not respond or respond only partially. However, placebo-controlled studies of augmentation of SRIs have not been done. Furthermore, although 40%-50% of patients are delusional, studies of antipsychotic medications have not been done.
Method:
Twenty-eight patients with body dysmorphic disorder or its delusional variant participated in an 8-week, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel-group study of pimozide augmentation of fluoxetine.
Results:
Pimozide was not more effective than placebo: two (18.2%) of 11 subjects responded to pimozide and three (17.6%) of 17 subjects responded to placebo. There was no significant effect of baseline delusionality on endpoint severity of body dysmorphic disorder. Delusionality did not decrease significantly more with pimozide than placebo.
Conclusions:
Pimozide augmentation of fluoxetine treatment for body dysmorphic disorder was not more effective than placebo, even in more delusional patients. Further studies of augmentation for SRIs are needed.
