The serotonin reuptake inhibitor paroxetine shows promise as treatment for symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder including compulsive hoarding behaviors, according to an article in the November print issue of the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

Sanjaya Saxena, MD, Director of the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders (OCD) Program at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, led the current prospective study of 79 patients diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder? 32 of whom showed compulsive hoarding syndrome.

Compulsive hoarding, which may affect up to 2 million people in the United States, is found in people with many diseases, including anorexia, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. It is most often found in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, although researchers are not yet sure if it is a subtype of the disorder or a separate disorder.

In previous, retrospective studies, compulsive hoarding had been associated with poor response to antidepressants in that class. However, no previous study had ever directly tested this widely held hypothesis.

The current study, which compared hoarding and non-hoarding patients, showed nearly identical responses to paroxetine. The symptoms exhibited by patients in both groups improved significantly with treatment.

Compulsive hoarding patients exhibit three core features: (1) failure to discard objects due to severe anxiety related to discarding what most might regard as inconsequential objects; (2) excessive acquisition, sometimes resulting in buying sprees; and (3) excessive clutter to the point where home and work spaces can no longer be used.

Affected individuals also display marked indecisiveness, disorganization, and procrastination. Sometimes such patients are only discovered when a landlord, social worker or fireman enters a home in which every available surface ? floors, tables, sofas and beds ? is covered with clutter making the space inhabitable.