Are SSRIs useful in obsessive-compulsive personality disorder?

We previously reported that in depressive patients, the presence of an underlying compulsive personality predicted a particular benefit with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). A possible interpretation for these findings was that SSRIs improved the personality disorder. To test this hypothesis, we treated four outpatients with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder with fluvoxamine over a 3-month period. Results using the ratings of DSM-IIIR individual criteria showed significant improvement, supporting a role for serotonergic dysfunction in obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.