Effects of imipramine on depression and obsessive-compulsive symptoms

Most of the controlled studies on the efficacy of medical treatments of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have involved clomipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant reputed to have anti-obsessional properties. To test the possibility that the drug's antidepressant action mediates the reduction of obsessive-compulsive symptoms, we treated 37 OCD patients with imipramine (mean dose = 233 mg/day) or placebo for 6 weeks and assessed improvement on both obsessive-compulsive and depressive symptoms. Imipramine reduced depression in highly depressed OCD patients, but did not affect obsessive-compulsive symptoms in these or in less depressed patients.