Tricyclic response in obsessive compulsive disorder

Therapeutic responses to the tricyclic antidepressant clomipramine have been demonstrated in five double blind studies of patients with obsessive compulsive disorder. Biological alterations in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder resemble those of depressed patients for the dexamethasone suppression test, for some measures of sleep physiology, and in similar neuroendocrine responses to clonidine. Clomipramine's antiobsessional effect does not require high baseline depression ratings or biological abnormalities similar to those seen in depressives. Preliminary results suggest that in contrast to depressives, patients with obsessive compulsive disorder may respond to clomipramine but not to the tricyclic antidepressant desipramine.