Comparing the Effects of a Herbal Drug based on Echium Amoenum With Fluvoxamine in the Treatment of Adolescents with Obsessive-compulsive Disorder.

BACKGROUND

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a severe and debilitating neuropsychiatric condition. Although selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, tricyclic antidepressants, and cognitive- behavioral therapy are the first-line medication and treatment for OCD, an estimated 30% of patients are treatment-resistant, and complete functional recovery is rare. Natural products as adjuvant or alternative therapies should be examined to find safer and more effective ways to manage OCD.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the potential benefits of a combined herbal drug based on Echium amoenum in treating OCD.

METHODS

Design and

Setting

In the psychiatric clinics of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, 40 patients who met the criteria for the obsessive-compulsive disorder based on DSM-5 were studied in a parallel, double-blind, randomized clinical trial.

INTERVENTION: Subjects were randomly assigned to receive Echium amoenum-Melissa officinalis syrup and fluvoxamine or placebo syrup and fluvoxamine for 8 weeks.

OUTCOME MEASURES: The efficacy of treatment and recurrence of disease were surveyed and compared according to the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale at weeks 0, 4, and 8.

RESULTS

Evaluation at the 4th and 8th week showed no significant differences between the two groups (p-value = 0.11, p-value = 0.445, respectively). At the 8th week of treatment, patients in the intervention group showed a remarkable reduction in scores on the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale questionnaire (p- value= 0.003), and patients in the control group didn't ((p- value= 0.180). This study showed that the E.amoneum-M.officinalis syrup was not significantly more efficacious than the fluvoxamine tablet, but the intervention group showed a significant improving trend (p-value= 0.001).

CONCLUSION

While monotherapy is usually the gold standard methodology, combination or augmentation therapy may also be of merit. Consequently, studies with larger sample sizes and the inclusion of para-clinical assessments such as serologic tests can further shed light on the mechanism of action of the E. amoneum- M. officinalis syrup and deepen our understanding of its effects.