Use of clomipramine in treatment of obsessive-compulsive symptomatology

An open clinical trial was conducted on the use of oral clomipramine in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive symptomatology in patients with various primary psychiatric diagnoses. The overall success rate of the 50 patients was 60%; those with a primary diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder had an 80% success rate. No significant differences in outcome were observed by current age, age of illness onset, duration of illness, or severity of illness. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventories of a subsample of the population revealed a significantly higher T score for depression in the successful patients. Since 83% of the successful patients had adequate prior treatments on other antidepressants without improvement in their obsessive-compulsive symptoms, it would appear that clomipramine is effective in treating obsessive-compulsive symptoms as well as depressive symptoms.