Design	Description	Comments
RCT crossover with placebo in panic disorder	Twenty-one patients with panic disorder were randomly assigned to 6 g of inositol or placebo twice a day for four weeks and then switched to the other substance24; during week 4, the mean number of panic attacks was 3.7 in the inositol group compared with 6.3 in the placebo group	Panic attack frequency and intensity were significantly reduced in the inositol group
RCT crossover with SSRI in panic disorder	Inositol was compared with fluvoxamine (Luvox) in 20 patients with panic disorder25; each crossover phase lasted four weeks (dosage: inositol, 18 g per day, or fluvoxamine, 150 mg per day); the four-week intervals were separated by a one-week placebo washout period; overall, both drugs reduced panic attack frequency and intensity, anxiety scale scores, and clinical global improvement scores; no meaningful clinical differences were noted between the two drugs	The absence of a placebo condition is troubling but, taken together with the previous trial, inositol appears to reduce panic disorder symptoms in the short term; over a one-month interval, inositol showed effectiveness similar to that of establishedSSRI medications for panic disorder
RCT crossover with placebo in OCD	The same research team compared inositol and placebo for the treatment of OCD26; 13 patients with OCD who had failed SSRI or clomipramine (Anafranil) treatments or who could not tolerate their side effects used 18 g per day of inositol or placebo for consecutive six-week treatment intervals; inositol produced significant reductions in Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale scores (4.6) compared with the placebo condition (0.3); reductions in Hamilton Anxiety Scale scores were not significantly different	Inositol appears to be highly effective in reducing OCD symptoms but not in reducing anxiety scale scores; participants with OCD had failed previous treatment, so findings may not be typical of patients with OCD in general
RCT crossover with placebo in OCD	Inositol added to SSRI treatments for OCD27; 13 patients with OCD who had not responded adequately to fluoxetine (Prozac), fluvoxamine, or clomipramine for at least eight weeks were given consecutive six-week trials on 18 g per day of inositol or placebo, in addition to the SSRI medication; inositol provided no additional benefit	The two studies on treatment-resistant OCD suggest inositol adds no benefit to SSRI therapy but may have positive effects on its own; none of these short studies produced side effects from inositol that would suggest risk greater than that of SSRIs