Tolerability And Efficacy Of High Dose Escitalopram In The Treatment Of Patients Suffering From Schizophrenia And Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) - An Open Label Study
All patients will be men and women over 18 years of age who meet DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia/ schizoaffective disorder and OCD.
Previous to entering the study all patients should be stabilized on antipsychotic medication for at least 3 months.
Patients should score above 12 points on Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) (Cut off point of Y-BOCS total score \> or =7 is the common practice in similar studies) (Kayahan et al 2005).
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All patients who are under antidepressant treatment (including SSRIs and clomipramine).
In patients who were on clomipramine or SSRI in the past are included, at least 2 weeks must have been elapsed since stopping the medication.
In case the patient has received an antidepressant which is not an SSRI or clomipramine, there will be a washout period of one week before entering the study.
If the patient received a MAO-inhibitors there will be a washout period of at least 2 weeks except for fluoxetine for which a washout period of 5 weeks is required due to its long half-life.
Known contraindication for the use of citalopram or escitalopram.
