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Published on: November 25, 2025
Open-label study of duloxetine for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder
Darin D Dougherty1, Andrew K Corse2, Tina Chou2
1Division of Neurotherapeutics, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA (Drs Dougherty, Corse, Chou, Duffy, Arulpragasam, and Deckersbach); OCD and Related Disorders Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA (Drs Dougherty, Jenike, and Keuthen); Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (Dr Chou); Department of Neuroscience, Brown University, Providence, RI (Dr Duffy). ddougherty@partners.org.
Background:
This study sought to investigate the efficacy of duloxetine for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (DSM-IV).
Methods:
Twenty individuals were enrolled in a 17-week, open-label trial of duloxetine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Data were collected between March 2007 and September 2012. Study measures assessing obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms, quality of life, depression, and anxiety were administered at baseline and weeks 1, 5, 9, 13, and 17. The primary outcome measures were the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale and Clinical Global Improvement scale.
Results:
For the 12 study completers, pre- and posttreatment analyses revealed significant improvements (P<.05) on clinician- and self-rated measures of obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms and quality of life. Among the 12 completers, more than one-half (n=7) satisfied full medication response criteria. Intention-to-treat analyses (n=20) showed similar improvements (P<.05) on primary and secondary study outcome measures.
Conclusion:
The results of this study suggest that duloxetine may provide a significant reduction in symptoms for patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00464698; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00464698?term=NCT00464698&rank=1.
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