Sociodemographic and Clinical Characteristics in Patients With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder With and Without Comorbid Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

Abstract

Objective: In this study, we aimed to investigate sociodemographic and clinical characteristics in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) with and without comorbid obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). Methods: This study was conducted among patients who were admitted to outpatients clinics of department of psychiatry of 2 different university hospitals. The study sample consisted of 30 OCD outpatients with only OCPD among the Axis II disorders and 38 OCD patients without any Axis II disorders. Axis I and Axis II psychiatric disorders were determined by means of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV/ Clinical Version (SCID-I/CV) and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R Personality Disorders (SCID-II), respectively. The Yale-Brown. Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) was used to determine types and severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. The patients' insight degree on obsessive-compulsive symptoms was assessed by means of the item 11 on the Y-BOCS. Results: The study groups had similar characteristics with respect to age, sex, educational level, marital status, and employment status. Compared to OCD patients without OCPD, symmetry/exactness obsessions, ordering/arranging compulsions, and diagnoses of comorbid major depression, dysthymic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and social phobia were found to be significantly more frequent in OCD patients with OCPD. There was no significant difference between study groups in terms of other types and severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms, other comorbid axis I disorders, age at onset and duration of OCD, and the patients' insight degree. Conclusion: The study results suggest that OCD patients with and without comorbid OCPD have generally similar sociodemographic and clinical characteristics.