DEPRESSED MOOD IS RELATED TO OBSESSIONS, BUT NOT TO COMPULSIONS, IN OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER

The authors compared obsessive-compulsive symptoms in 150 patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) who had never experienced a mood disorder, who had once experienced a mood disorder, and who had a current mood disorder. All patients were administered the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R, the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, and the Beck Depression Inventory. Patients with comorbid mood disorder showed more severe obsessional syumptoms, but not more severe compulsive symptoms, than did patients without mood disorder. In patients free of mood disorder, severity of subclinical dysphoria was correlated with severity of obsessions as well, but not with severity of compulsions. That is, mood disorders seem selectively associated with worsening of obsessions.