Successful treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorders

Behavioral therapy and drugs have significantly improved obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms. A variety of behavioral therapy methods have been employed, but exposure and prevention of response, particularly, have reduced ritualistic actions of many OCD patients. Many psychoactive drugs have been tried; the tricyclic antidepressant drugs (clomipramine or Anafranel), especially in research outside the United States, have alleviated OCD symptoms as well as depression. Compulsive rituals have responded more often than obsessive actions to both behavioral and psychopharmacological therapy. Recent research has suggested that psychophysiological as well as traditional psychogenic factors may contribute to the etiology, course, and alleviation of OCD.