[Olanzapine augmentation therapy in patients with the obsessive-compulsive disorder resistant to treatment]

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder [OCD] is the fourth prevalent psychiatric disorder. Despite the known first line therapies including Clomipramin and Specified Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors [SSRI], 40% to 50% of the patients are either resistant to treatment or do not show enough response. On the other hand, some of the previous studies have shown a positive effect of Olanzapine augmentation therapy in the OCD patients but, some studies have not confirmed such effects. Therefore, we added the Olanzapine to the medical regimen of the OCD patients and studied the effectiveness of this intervention. Forty two patients with OCD according to DSM-IV-TR who were resistant to treatment with SSRI were entered to the study. 20 patients in the study group were taken 5-10 mg Olanzapine in addition to their previous drug regimen for six weeks. 22 patients in the control group received the above mentioned drug regimen without Olanzapine. Then, in order to evaluate the severity of disorder, the Yale-Brown test was done at the first, third and the sixth weeks after the study. 6 patients were withdrawn from the study because of the complications of the Olanzapine. YBOCS score in the treatment group was 33.6 +/- 5 and in the control group was 34.8 +/- 3.3. After Olanzapine augmentation therapy the score decreased to a mean of 7.2 +/- 6.1 in the treatment group and 7.1 +/- 5.9 in the control group. However, there was no significant statistical difference between the two groups [P>0.001]. The findings of this study showed that Olanzapine as augmentation, supplemental and strengthening therapy has a neutral effect in OCD patients

Petal and stigma of Crocus sativus L. in the treatment of depression: a pilot double-blind randomized trial

Stigmas of Crocus sativus L. [Iridaceae], commonly known as saffron, is the world's most expensive spice and apart from its traditional value as food additive recent studies indicate its potential as antidepressant. Because saffron is expensive, using it daily to address depression may not be practical. Moreover, recent study indicated antidepressant effect of petal of Crocus sativus. As petal of Crocus sativus is not expensive compared to stigma, there will be economical interests for further investigations by pharmaceutical industries. Our objective was to compare the efficacy of petal of Crocus sativus with stigma of Crocus sativus in the treatment of depressed outpatients in a 6-week pilot double-blind randomized trial. Forty four adult outpatients who met the DSM- IV criteria for major depression based on the structured clinical interview for DSM- IV participated in the trial. Patients have a baseline Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression score of at least 18. In this double-blind and randomized trial, patients were randomly assigned to receive capsule of petal of Crocus sativus 15 mg bid [morning and evening] [Group 1] and capsule of stigma of Crocus sativus 15 mg bid [morning and evening] [Group 2] for a 6-week study. At the end of trial, petal of Crocus sativus was found to be effective similar to stigma of Crocus sativus in the treatment of mild to moderate depression [d.f.=1, F= 0.05, P=0.81]. In addition, in the both treatments, the remission rate was 18%.There were no significant differences in the two groups in terms of observed side effects. The present study is supportive of other studies which show antidepressant effect of petal and stigma of Crocus sativus