Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T07:24:42.476Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Psychophysiological Changes during Pharmacological Treatment of Patients with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Theodore P. Zahn ,
Thomas R. Insel  and
Dennis L. Murphy
Theodore P. Zahn*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Psychology and Psychopathology, NIMH, Building 10, Room 4C–118, Bethesda, Maryland 20205, USA
Thomas R. Insel
Affiliation:
NIMH
Dennis L. Murphy
Affiliation:
NIMH
*
∗Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Twelve patients with obsessive compulsive disorder were studied with psychophysiological measures during a randomised, double-blind placebo-controlled drug trial. Significant clinical improvement followed six weeks of treatment with the tricyclic antidepressant clomipramine, but was not evident after an equal period of treatment with the monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) clorgyline. Compared to placebo, both drugs reduced skin conductance indices of baseline arousal, but only clomipramine reduced skin conductance and heart rate responses to loud tones and tonic and phasic skin conductance responses in a two-flash discrimination task. This suggests that reductions in autonomic responses to important and/or aversive stimuli may be critical to clinical improvement in obsessive compulsive disorder.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 145 , Issue 1 , July 1984 , pp. 39 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ananth, J., Pecknold, J. C., Van den Steen, N. & Engelsmann, F. (1981) Double blind comparative study of clomipramine and amitriptyline in obsessive neurosis. Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology, 124, 276–82.Google Scholar
Beech, H. R. & Perigault, J. (1977) Toward a theory of obsessional disorder. In Obsessional States, (ed. Beech, H. R.). London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Bigger, J. T. Jr., Kantor, S. J., Glassman, A. H. & Perel, J. M. (1978) Cardiovascular effects of tricyclic anti-depressant drugs. In Psychopharmacology: A Generation of Progress (eds. Lipton, M. A., DiMascio, A. D. and Killam, K. F.). New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Boulougouris, J. C. (1977) Variables affecting the behavior modification of obsessive-compulsive patients treated by flooding. In The Treatment of Phobic and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders (eds. Boulougouris, J. C. and Rabavilas, A. D.). Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Breyer-Pfaff, V., Gaertner, H. J. & Giedke, H. (1982) Plasma levels, psychophysiological variables, and clinical response to amitriptyline. Psychiatry Research, 6, 223–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Graham, F. K. & Clifton, R. K. (1966) Heart rate change as a component of the orienting response. Psychological Bulletin, 65, 305–20.Google Scholar
Insel, T. R., Alterman, I. & Murphy, D. L. (1982) Anti-obsessional and anti-depressant effects with clomipramine. Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 18, 315–19.Google Scholar
Insel, T. R. & Murphy, D. L. (1981) Psychopharmacologic treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder: A review. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 1, 304–11.Google Scholar
Insel, T. R., Murphy, D. L., Cohen, R. M., Alterman, I., Kilts, C. & Linnoila, M. (1983) Obsessive-compulsive disorder: A double-blind trial of clomipramine and clorgyline. Archives of General Psychiatry, 40, 605–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnstone, E. C., Bourne, R. C., Frith, C. D., Gamble, S., Lofthouse, R., Owen, F., Owens, D. G. C., Robinson, J. & Stevens, M. (1981) The relationship between clinical response, psychophysiological variables and plasma levels of amitriptyline and diazepam in neurotic outpatients. Psychopharmacology, 72, 233–40.Google Scholar
van der Kolk, B. A., Shader, R. I. & Greenblatt, D. J. (1978) Autonomic effects of psychotropic drugs. In Psychopharmacology: A Generation of Progress (eds. Lipton, M. A., Mascio, A. D. & Killam, K. F.). New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Lipper, S., Murphy, D. L. & Slater, S. (1979) Comparative behavioral effects of clorgyline and pargyline in man: A preliminary evaluation. Psychopharmacology, 62, 123–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marks, I. M. (1981) Review of behavioural psychotherapy I: Obsessive compulsive disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 138, 584–92.Google Scholar
Marks, I. M., Hodgson, R. & Rachman, S. (1975) Treatment of chronic obsessive compulsive neurosis by in vivo exposure: A two-year follow-up and issues in treatment. British Journal of Psychiatry, 127, 349–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marks, I. M., Stern, R. S., Mawson, D., Cobb, J. & McDonald, R. (1980) Clomipramine and exposure for obsessive-compulsive rituals: I. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 1–25.Google Scholar
Rabavilas, A. D., Boulougouris, J. & Stefanis, C. (1976) Duration of flooding sessions in the treatment of obsessive compulsive patients. Behavior Research and Therapy, 14, 349–55.Google Scholar
Rachman, S. & Hodgson, R. (1979) Obsessions and Compulsions. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Robinson, T. N. Jr. & Zahn, T. P. (1979) Covariation of two-flash threshold and autonomic arousal for high and low scorers on a measure of psychoticism. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 18, 431–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steketee, G., Foa, E. B. & Grayson, J. B. (1982) Recent advances in the behavioral treatment of obsessive compulsives. Archives of General Psychiatry, 12, 1365–71.Google Scholar
Stern, P. & Marks, I. (1980) Brief and prolonged flooding: A comparison of agoraphobic patients. Archives of General Psychiatry, 28, 270–76.Google Scholar
Thoren, P., Asbert, M., Cronholm, B., Jornestedt, L. Traskman, L. (1980) Clomipramine treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder: A controlled clinical trial. Archives of General Psychiatry, 37, 1281–89.Google Scholar
Wheatley, D. (1970) Comparative trial of a new mono-amino oxidase inihibitor in depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 117, 573–74.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.