Buprenorphine augmentation in the treatment of refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder

OCD is often refractory to treatment. There is a need for the development of new, non-invasive treatments for severe OCD.

There is evidence that opiates can be a useful adjunctive treatment in OCD. We summarise our experience with sublingual buprenorphine augmentation of standard pharmacological management of severe OCD.

Patients were recruited from a standard psychiatric outpatient clinic and gave their consent to the treatment trial. The severity of the OCD was rated with the Y-BOCS. The buprenorphine was introduced to their existing medication regime at a low dose and the dose increased according to response. In order to gauge the reproducibility of the response the buprenorphine was withdrawn and then reintroduced once symptoms had returned.

4 out of 7 patients with treatment resistant OCD showed a 30% reduction in the Y-BOCS score following buprenorphine augmentation. 3 of the responders were comorbid for other Axis 1 diagnoses. All of the responders had shown some improvement with SSRIs or clomipramine. Non-responders had not shown any improvement with either antidepressant or antipsychotic drugs. Typically improvement appeared within 2 days of initiating buprenorphine and waned within 1 to 2 days of its discontinuation. The dose of buprenorphine required varied between 400 µg and 600 µg a day. One responder managed on alternate day dosing. Reintroduction of buprenorphine resulted in symptom control within 2 to 3 days. The buprenorphine treatment was not associated with significant side-effects and the improvement was maintained without progressive dose escalation.

Buprenorphine augmentation of standard treatment for OCD can result in clinically meaningful improvement in a proportion of refractory OCD cases. Further treatment trials are indicated.