Inositol (high-dose, psychiatric)

Tier 2 — promising · OCD · Panic disorder · Mood

At 12–18 g per day, inositol has been studied as a treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder and panic disorder. Levine 1997 (PMID 9169302) — a series of controlled crossover trials — found 18 g/day significantly reduced OCD symptoms and 12 g/day reduced panic attack frequency versus placebo. Palatnik 2001 (PMID 11386498, n=20 crossover RCT) found inositol up to 18 g/day reduced panic attacks comparably to fluvoxamine in the first month, with fewer side effects. The brain uses inositol as a phosphoinositide second messenger in serotonergic pathways. Key caveat: trial sizes are small…

Dose: 12–18 g/day in 2–3 divided doses for OCD or panic disorder. Start at 6 g/day and increase over 2 weeks.