Psychiatric Comorbidity and Quality of Life in Patients With Obsessive Compulsive Disorder(Case Control Study )

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Psychiatric Comorbidity and quality of life in patients with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder(case control study )

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental and behavioral disorder\[7\] in which a person has certain thoughts repeatedly (called obsessions) and/or feels the need to perform certain routines repeatedly (called compulsions) to an extent that generates distress or impairs general functioning.\[1\]\[2\] The person is unable to control either the thoughts or activities for more than a short period of time.\[1\] Common compulsions include excessive hand washing, the counting of things, and checking to see if a door is locked.\[1\] These activities occur to such a degree that the person's daily life is negatively affected,\[1\] often taking up more than an hour a day.\[2\] Most adults realize that the behaviors do not make sense.\[1\] The condition is associated with tics, anxiety disorder, and an increased risk of suicide.\[2\]\[3\] The cause is unknown.\[1\] There appear to be some genetic components, with both identical twins more often affected than both non-identical twins.\[2\] Risk factors include a history of child abuse or other stress-inducing event.\[2\] Some cases have been documented to occur following infections.\[2\] The diagnosis is based on the symptoms and requires ruling out other drug-related or medical causes.\[2\] Rating scales such as the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) can be used to assess the severity.\[8\] Other disorders with similar symptoms include anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, eating disorders, tic disorders, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.\[2\] Treatment may involve psychotherapy, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and antidepressants, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or clomipramine.\[4\]\[5\] CBT for OCD involves increasing exposure to fears and obsessions while preventing the compulsive behavior that would normally accompany the obsessions.\[4\] Contrary to this, metacognitive therapy encourages the ritual behaviors in order to alter the relationship to one's thoughts about them.\[9\] While clomipramine appears to work as well as do SSRIs, it has greater side effects and thus is typically reserved as a second-line treatment.\[4\] Atypical antipsychotics may be useful when used in addition to an SSRI in treatment-resistant cases but are also associated with an increased risk of side effects.\[5\]\[10\] Without treatment, the condition often lasts decades.\[2\]

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