differential diagnosis
Last reviewed 01/2018
It is important to distinguish obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) from other psychiatric disorders in which obsessive symptoms are present.
The important differentials are:
- primary depressive disorder:
- depressed patients may present with obsessional symptoms
- as many as 30% of severe depressives develop obsessional symptoms
- diagnosis is complicated because the course of OCD is often punctuated with periods of depression
- schizophrenia:
- patients may present with obsessional symptoms
- schizophrenia should be suspected if the thoughts or rituals are particularly bizarre
- Tourette's syndrome:
- the incidence of OCD in families with Tourette's syndrome is increased
- organic psychiatric syndromes:
- these are rare, an example is encephalitis lethargica
- anankastic personality disorder