These include but are not limited to, "grunting", "jerking" or "shrugging" body parts, sniffling, and excessive blinking.There has been a significant amount of progress over the last few decades, and as of 2022 there is statically significant improvement in the diagnostic process for individuals with OCD. One study found that of two groups of individuals, one with participants under the age of 27.25 and one with participants over that age, those in the younger group experienced a significantly faster time between the onset of OCD tendencies and their formal diagnoses. Differential diagnosis
OCD is often confused with the separate condition obsessive–compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). OCD is egodystonic, meaning that the disorder is incompatible with the individuals self-concept. As egodystonic disorders go against a persons self-concept, they tend to cause much distress. OCPD, on the other hand, is egosyntonic, marked by the persons acceptance that the characteristics and behaviors displayed as a result are compatible with their self-image, or are otherwise appropriate, correct, or reasonable. As a result, people with OCD are often aware that their behavior is not rational, and are unhappy about their obsessions, but nevertheless feel compelled by them. By contrast, people with OCPD are not aware of anything abnormal; they will readily explain why their actions are rational. It is usually impossible to convince them otherwise, and they tend to derive pleasure from their obsessions or compulsions. Management
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and psychotropic medications are the first-line treatments for OCD.
Surgery may be used as a final resort in the most severe or treatment-resistant cases, though most procedures are considered experimental due to the limited literature on their side effects. Without treatment, OCD often lasts decades.Obsessive–compulsive disorder affects about 2.3% of people at some point in their lives, while rates during any given year are about 1.2%. It is unusual for symptoms to begin after age 35, and around 50% of patients experience detrimental effects to daily life before age 20. Males and females are affected equally, and OCD occurs worldwide. The phrase obsessive–compulsive is sometimes used in an informal manner unrelated to OCD to describe someone as excessively meticulous, perfectionistic, absorbed, or otherwise fixated. Signs and symptoms
OCD can present with a wide variety of symptoms. Certain groups of symptoms usually occur together; these groups are sometimes viewed as dimensions, or clusters, which may reflect an underlying process. The standard assessment tool for OCD, the Yale–Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), has 13 predefined categories of symptoms. These symptoms fit into three to five groupings. A meta-analytic review of symptom structures found a four-factor grouping structure to be most reliable: a symmetry factor, a forbidden thoughts factor, a cleaning factor, and a hoarding factor. The symmetry factor correlates highly with obsessions related to ordering, counting, and symmetry, as well as repeating compulsions. The forbidden thoughts factor correlates highly with intrusive and distressing thoughts of a violent, religious, or sexual nature. The cleaning factor correlates highly with obsessions about contamination and compulsions related to cleaning.