Julie A. Hatterer

Reversible and irreversible monoamine oxidase inhibitors in other psychiatric disorders

In addition to being effective in depressive disorders, monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) have been shown to be effective in controlled studies of patient with panic disorder with agoraphobia, social phobia, atypical depression or mixed anxiety and depression, bulimia, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and borderline personality disorder. Uncontrolled case reports have noted MAOI efficacy in obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD), trichotillomania, dysmorphophobia and avoidant personality disorder. Reversible inhibitors of MAO‐A (RIMAs) appear safer than the classical irreversible MAOIs since they have less potential to increase blood pressure. They have not been studied as yet, however, in most of the conditions responsive to MAOIs. If RIMAs are found effective in these disorders, they would probably achieve wider use than MAOIs because they are safer and tend to cause fewer side effects.

Fluoxetine treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder: an open clinical trial

The selective serotonin reuptake blocker fluoxetine was administered to 49 patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder in a 12-week open clinical trial. A minimum adequate trial of at least 8 weeks of treatment was completed by 39 patients. Response rates were 62% (24/39) of adequately treated patients and 49% (24/49) of the whole sample. These uncontrolled findings suggest that fluoxetine is of significant benefit for a substantial proportion of obsessive-compulsive disorder patients. However, controlled trials comparing fluoxetine with placebo and other active agents are needed to confirm this, as are studies aimed to delineate fluoxetines full dose range, optimal length of treatment and relapse rate following discontinuation.