Risk for Pathological Contamination Fears at Coronavirus Time: Proposal of Early Intervention and Prevention Strategies

COVID-19 outbreak represents a stressful life event that might potentially trigger psychopathological symptoms in people with a pre-existing vulnerability. This is particularly relevant for the onset or exacerbation of pathological contamination fears in people with vulnerability to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or in those individuals with sub-threshold obsessive-compulsive symptoms, or who achieved recovery after a successful treatment. Strict movement restrictions and hygiene habits are essential to limit COVID-19 diffusion and delay its progression. However, the occurrence of dysfunctional, clinically relevant contamination fears may be the downside highlighting the importance of a more comprehensive knowledge on the vulnerability factors of OCD in order to inform policy making and risk communication on one hand, early identification and prevention on the other one. The importance of early identification and prevention of OCD during critical periods, such as the present one, is of paramount importance since this psychiatric condition is associated with a prolonged latency in the correct diagnosis and first professional contact which is in turn associated with worse prognosis and higher resistance to treatment.