Obsessive-compulsive Disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by obsessional thinking, compulsive behaviour and varying degrees of anxiety and depression. Studies have shown OCD to be one of the more common psychiatric disorders, with a lifetime prevalence estimated at 2%-3%, approximately twice that of schizophrenia. OCD is also considered to be one of the most disabling of psychiatric disorders (and medical disorders for that matter) and presents a tremendous economic and social burden, both for the individual/family and for society at large. There has been a recent increase in research in the field of aetiology, neural substrates and cognitive effects of OCD that are likely to lead to advances in treatment. Part of the Oxford Psychiatry Library series, this pocketbook provides clinicians with a succinct and practical introduction to the diagnosis, evaluation, and management of OCD and OCD-related conditions. Individual chapters cover the phenomenology, psychobiology, pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy of OCD. The book also includes a helpful resources chapter, including reproductions of the major rating scales used to assess patients with OCD (Y-BOCS, CY-BOCS, DY-BOCS, and CGI) as well as information sources for both clinicians and patients. The book serves as an invaluable quick reference for clinical psychiatrists, trainee psychiatrists, psychiatric specialist nurses and other mental health care professionals, as well as interested general practitioners.