States that in the world of psychiatric conditions the
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is getting its 15 minutes of fame.
Increasing frequency of disorder over the past decade; Medical literature
has more sharply defined OCD, according to 'American Journal of
Psychiatry'; Association between the increased number of patients
diagnosed with OCD and number of publications about the disease;
Symptoms; More.
By
PT Staff, published on November 01, 1992
OBSESSION/COMPULSION
Like hemlines and tail fins, psychiatric conditions go in and out
of style. Where once schizophrenia ranked Numero Uno and later manic
depression had its 15 minutes of fame, today is the heyday of
obsessivecompulsive disorder.
With increasing frequency over the past decade, doctors have been
diagnosing the disorder marked by recurring intrusive thoughts or by
inexplicable, ritualistic behaviors such as hand washing. That's because
the medical literature has more sharply defined the disorder and
delineated innovative treatments, reports a trio of Harvard doctors in
the American Journal of Psychiatry (Vol. 149, No. 5).
Call it "diagnostic vogue bias." Studying records at McLean
Hospital, a major psychiatric facility in the Boston area, they found a
strong association between the increased number of patients diagnosed
with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and the number of publications
written about the disease.
Ross Baldessarini, M.D., co-author of the study, says that new
knowledge about OCD may have made doctors reconsider cases whose symptoms
were previously not understood. "A lot of psychiatry is having a hunch
and aggressively following information to pursue it," offers the Harvard
professor of psychiatry and neuroscience. Doctors who have access to that
information might inquire more specifically about irrational thoughts and
behavior in patients whom they suspect have OCD.
A well-read psychiatrist who notices that a male patient's hands
are scaly, for example, might think to ask how often he washes them. When
confronted, people with OCD usually admit to visiting the bathroom sink
hundreds of times each day-or to other time-consuming, compulsive rituals
that they've been too embarrassed to disclose.
Embarrassment may also formerly have led many with OCD to suffer in
the closet. "In the old days, people thought OCD was related to how you
were toilet trained," says Andrew Stoll, M.D., a psychiatrist at McLean.
Now, like many behavioral disorders, it's seen as a biological illness
caused in part by a foulup in brain chemistry. And that takes patients
off the hook.
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