ABSTRACT
Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer Tel Aviv University Until the early 1980s, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) was considered a treatment-refractory, chronic condition of psychological origins. Treatment strategies included dynamic psychotherapy, which in general was of little benefit, and a variety of pharmacological treatments that had been tried without much success (Salzman & Thaler, 1981). The observation that clomipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant with a serotonergic profile, is effective in treating symptoms of OCD has resulted in intense interest in the relation between serotonin and this disorder (Fernandez-Cordoba & Lopez-Ibor, 1967; Renynghe de Voxrie, 1968; Yaryura-Tobias, Neziroglu, & Bergman, 1976).
