Posted by linkadge on December 5, 2004, at 22:43:39
In reply to Re: OCD / Apathy spectrum » linkadge, posted by ed_uk on December 5, 2004, at 16:13:50
Well I understand it is a bit more complicated than that.
It you wanted a pure anti-ocd agent it would probably be a 5-ht2a/c receptor agonist.
The problem with agonizing the 5-ht2a/c receptors is that you reduce dopamine release in the fronal cortex and neucleus accumbens, and hence apathy.
Downregulation of the 5-ht1c receptors can also produce apathy.
There was an article about serotonin and romantic lovers. Romantic lovers had overall lower serotonin. It was proposed that romance was a state dependant induction of "obsessive behavior".Ie. there is a bit of a link between "obsession", and intrinsic motivation.
Did you ever notice how the AD's that don't have sexual side effects are usually not good anti-OCD agents, and that the AD's that have the sexual side effects are the better anti-OCD agents.
The more I enjoy sex, the more I obsess about it. When I don't enjoy it, I forget about it. Or perhaps it is the other way around.
The point I am trying to make is that there is a bit of a link between the obsession breaking effects of the SSRI's and the anhedonic effects.
Atypicals are often used as adjunctives in OCD. They block dopamine receptors in the neuclues accumbens (pleasure centers) and hence break obsession, and also induce anhedonia (dose dependantly)
Linkadge
poster:linkadge
thread:424595
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041201/msgs/425032.html