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Drawing the Line Between Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Schizophrenia

The schizo-obsessive spectrum has been a central focus of interest and research within the scientific community in mental health. The increased comorbidity of schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) appears to be considerably higher than previousl...

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Autores principales: Cavaco, Tânia B, Ribeiro, Joana S
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Cureus 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10105491/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37069876
http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.36227
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author Cavaco, Tânia B
Ribeiro, Joana S
author_facet Cavaco, Tânia B
Ribeiro, Joana S
author_sort Cavaco, Tânia B
collection PubMed
description The schizo-obsessive spectrum has been a central focus of interest and research within the scientific community in mental health. The increased comorbidity of schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) appears to be considerably higher than previously expected, with more recent studies suggesting growing prevalence rates. Despite this phenomenon, OCS are not considered primary manifestations of schizophrenia and are therefore not usually explored in these patients. The concept of schizo-obsessiveness mostly emerged in the 1990s, progressing into OCD-schizophrenia spectrum disorders as a dual diagnosis of OCD and schizophrenia. The manifestations of the schizo-obsessive spectrum are diverse, and its diagnoses may be divided overall into four main categories: schizophrenia with OCS; schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) with OCD; OCD with poor insight; schizo-obsessive disorder (SOD). In some cases, distinguishing an intrusive thought from delirium in OCD with poor insight might be challenging. Poor or absent insight can be present in many diagnoses of OCD. Those patients within the schizo-obsessive spectrum present a worse insight than those with OCD without schizophrenia. The comorbidity has important clinical implications, considering its association with an earlier onset of the disorder, more severe positive and negative psychotic symptoms, a greater cognitive deficit, more severe depressive symptoms, more suicide attempts, a reduced social network, increased psychosocial dysfunction, and consequently a worse quality of life and greater psychological suffering. The presence of OCS or OCD in schizophrenia may lead to more severe psychopathology and a worse prognosis. More precise diagnoses allow for a more targeted intervention by offering an optimized psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacological approach. We hereby present four clinical cases that represent each of the four designated categories of the schizo-obsessive spectrum. This case-series report aims to enhance clinical insight regarding the diversity of the schizo-obsessive spectrum and to illustrate the difficult and sometimes misleading process of differentiating OCD from schizophrenia and establishing a diagnosis due to the potential overlap of phenomenology, as well as the course and assessment of symptoms manifested within the spectrum.
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spelling pubmed-101054912023-04-16 Drawing the Line Between Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Schizophrenia Cavaco, Tânia B Ribeiro, Joana S Cureus Psychiatry The schizo-obsessive spectrum has been a central focus of interest and research within the scientific community in mental health. The increased comorbidity of schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) appears to be considerably higher than previously expected, with more recent studies suggesting growing prevalence rates. Despite this phenomenon, OCS are not considered primary manifestations of schizophrenia and are therefore not usually explored in these patients. The concept of schizo-obsessiveness mostly emerged in the 1990s, progressing into OCD-schizophrenia spectrum disorders as a dual diagnosis of OCD and schizophrenia. The manifestations of the schizo-obsessive spectrum are diverse, and its diagnoses may be divided overall into four main categories: schizophrenia with OCS; schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) with OCD; OCD with poor insight; schizo-obsessive disorder (SOD). In some cases, distinguishing an intrusive thought from delirium in OCD with poor insight might be challenging. Poor or absent insight can be present in many diagnoses of OCD. Those patients within the schizo-obsessive spectrum present a worse insight than those with OCD without schizophrenia. The comorbidity has important clinical implications, considering its association with an earlier onset of the disorder, more severe positive and negative psychotic symptoms, a greater cognitive deficit, more severe depressive symptoms, more suicide attempts, a reduced social network, increased psychosocial dysfunction, and consequently a worse quality of life and greater psychological suffering. The presence of OCS or OCD in schizophrenia may lead to more severe psychopathology and a worse prognosis. More precise diagnoses allow for a more targeted intervention by offering an optimized psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacological approach. We hereby present four clinical cases that represent each of the four designated categories of the schizo-obsessive spectrum. This case-series report aims to enhance clinical insight regarding the diversity of the schizo-obsessive spectrum and to illustrate the difficult and sometimes misleading process of differentiating OCD from schizophrenia and establishing a diagnosis due to the potential overlap of phenomenology, as well as the course and assessment of symptoms manifested within the spectrum. Cureus 2023-03-16 /pmc/articles/PMC10105491/ /pubmed/37069876 http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.36227 Text en Copyright © 2023, Cavaco et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Psychiatry
Cavaco, Tânia B
Ribeiro, Joana S
Drawing the Line Between Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Schizophrenia
title Drawing the Line Between Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Schizophrenia
title_full Drawing the Line Between Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Schizophrenia
title_fullStr Drawing the Line Between Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Schizophrenia
title_full_unstemmed Drawing the Line Between Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Schizophrenia
title_short Drawing the Line Between Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Schizophrenia
title_sort drawing the line between obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia
topic Psychiatry
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10105491/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37069876
http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.36227
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