ARTICLES
Obsessions and Compulsions across Time in 79 Children and Adolescents with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-199211000-00009Get rights and content

Abstract

Individual symptoms of 79 children and adolescents with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder were obtained from chart review of at least two in-person evaluations and recorded across an average of 7.9 years (range, 2 to 16). Symptoms were grouped according to the categories of the Yale-Brown Symptom Checklist. No significant age related trends were found with any one type of symptom, although patients with a very early onset of illness (less than 6 years old) were more likely to have compulsions than obsessions. Across the study period, patients reported symptoms from many different symptom categories, with 47% of the patients displaying both washing and checking compulsions at some time during their illness. No patient maintained the same constellation of symptoms from presentation to follow-up. These data support the concept of obsessive-compulsive disorder as an illness with varied clinical manifestations that individually change over time.

REFERENCES (20)

  • C.J. Berg et al.

    The Leyton Obsessional Inventory — Child Version

    J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry

    (1986)
  • H.L. Leonard et al.

    Childhood rituals: Normal development of obsessive-compulsive symptoms?

    J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry

    (1990)
  • W.E. Minichiello et al.

    Age of onset of major subtypes of obsessive-compulsive disorder

    J. Anx. Disorder

    (1990)
  • American Psychiatric Association

    Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

    (1980)
  • M. Flament et al.

    Clomipramine treatment of childhood obsessive compulsive disorder: A double-blind controlled study

    Arch. Gen. Psychiatry

    (1985)
  • M. Flament et al.

    Childhood obsessive-compulsive disorder: A prospective follow-up study

    J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry

    (1990)
  • S. Freud

    The predisposition to obsessional neurosis

  • W.K. Goodman et al.

    The Yale-Brown obsessive compulsive scale: I. development, use, and reliability

    Arch. Gen. Psychiatry

    (1989)
  • R.J. Hafner et al.

    Obsessive-compulsive disorder: an exploration of some unresolved clinical issues

    Aust. N. Z. J. Psychiatry

    (1990)
  • S. Honjo et al.

    Obsessive-compulsive symptoms in childhood and adolescence

    Acta Psychiatr. Scand.

    (1989)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (173)

  • The perceived long-term impact of COVID-19 on OCD symptomology

    2023, Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders
  • The relation between normative rituals/routines and obsessive-compulsive symptoms at a young age: A systematic review

    2020, Developmental Review
    Citation Excerpt :

    From a developmental viewpoint, Laing et al. (2009) showed that the frequency of normative rituals declines with age and that normative anxieties and rituals change in content over time as a function of altering developmental salience. This also happens in OC symptoms, which are known to change in content and severity over time (Rettew, Swedo, Leonard, Lenane, & Rapoport, 1992). This similarity in the developmental trajectories of normal and clinical OC manifestations reflects continuity.

  • Common challenges and pitfalls in the treatment of paediatric OCD using CBT and medication

    2020, Starting at the Beginning: Laying the Foundation for Lifelong Mental Health
View all citing articles on Scopus

We thank Yolanda Vauss and Michelle Wasserman for their technical assistance.

View full text