Drug, Therapy Both Help Compulsives

LOS ANGELES —  Two completely different treatments--medication and behavior therapy--produce similar changes in the brains of people who suffer obsessive-compulsive disorder, a UCLA study has found.

About 2.4 million Americans are afflicted with the psychiatric disorder that causes unwanted, uncontrollable thoughts. In trying to reduce the anxiety caused by these obsessions, patients feel compelled to perform senseless rituals.

In the study, patients were treated with either the antidepressant drug Prozac or behavior therapy. After 10 weeks, seven of nine medicated patients and six of nine patients treated with behavior therapy improved. Brain scans showed similar changes in all the patients who improved.