Ninewells Hospital & Medical School, Dundee, DD1 9SY

Tag: Treatment

Advanced Interventions ServiceTreatment
Blog David Christmas

Evidence review: N-acetylcysteine for OCD [Updated March 2026]

Introduction N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is thought to regulate glutamate neurotransmission in the brain, and also acts as a potential anti-oxidant. It increases the amount of extracellular glutamate by enhancing the activity of the cystine/glutamate transporter. There are a number of other drugs that are sometimes used to treat OCD that act on glutamate. These include: Memantine; …

Read more Evidence review: N-acetylcysteine for OCD [Updated March 2026]

Blog David Christmas

tDCS as a treatment for depression

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a type of neuromodulation that was developed decades ago but has generated more interest in recent years. We discuss the evidence for tDCS for depression, and cover the outcomes from some recent studies. Introduction What is Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) for depression? tDCS is the application of a …

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Blog David Christmas

Behavioural modification (pacing) for OCD

This post is a summary of a poster that was presented at the EABCT conference in 2021. We talk about behavioural modification approaches for ritualised behaviour in OCD and other disorders. The full reference is as follows: Buick, R., Cockburn, C. & Christmas, D. (2021) Applying a transdiagnostic approach to treating ritualised behaviour in specialised …

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Blog David Christmas

Antipsychotic augmentation in OCD: optimal doses

We discuss the issue of higher-than-needed doses of antipsychotic medication for augmentation in OCD. This can cause side effects. We briefly review the evidence to support the use of Risperidone in treating OCD and look at typical doses. We go on to make some recommendations for optimum doses of Risperidone. Background In the last year, …

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Blog David Christmas

Novel treatments for depression: psilocybin

There has been a lot of interest in psilocybin as a treatment for several mental disorders, but the evidence is only emerging. In this blog we cover a recent study looking at psilocybin as a treatment for depression (Davis et al, 2020) and discuss what the implications for patient treatment might be. What is psilocybin? Psilocybin …

Read more Novel treatments for depression: psilocybin

Blog David Christmas

Evidence review: N-acetylcysteine for OCD

This review has been updated You're reading the older version of this review. Please visit the updated version. Introduction N-acetylcysteine is thought to regulate glutamate neurotransmission in the brain, and also acts as a potential anti-oxidant. It increases the amount of extracellular glutamate by enhancing the activity of the cystine/ glutamate transporter. There are a number …

Read more Evidence review: N-acetylcysteine for OCD