Abstract

Objectives: This study was designed to investigate the possibility of dopaminergic involve-ment in obsessive-compulsive patients (OCD).

Method: This double-blind study compared the efficacy of fluoxetine-haloperidol with that of fluoxetine-placebo in two groups, each comprised of 12 subjects. These subjects with obsessive-compulsive disorders were selected on the basis of DSM-IV diagnostic criteria they were asse- ssed by a demographic questionnaire and Yale-Brown Scale for evaluating obsessive-compul- sive disorders.

Findings: The results showed that the response to treatment in haloperidol-fluoxetine group was somewhat better than the fluoxetine-placebo group from the first week of the study. The difference was significant at the third visit (end of fourth week).

Results: In addition to serotonin neurotransmitter system, dopaminergic system may play a role in pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder.