Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is a cluster C personality disorder marked by an excessive need for orderliness and neatness. Symptoms are usually present by the time a person reaches adulthood, and are visible in a variety of situations. The cause of OCPD is thought to involve a combination of genetic and environmental factors, namely problems with attachment.This is a distinct disorder from obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), and the relation between the two is contentious. Some studies have found high comorbidity rates between the two disorders but others have shown little comorbidity. Both disorders may share outside similarities, such as rigid and ritual-like behaviors. Attitudes toward these behaviors differ between people affected with either of the disorders: for people with OCD, these behaviors are egodystonic, unwanted and involuntary, being the product of anxiety-inducing and involuntary thoughts. On the other hand, for people with OCPD, they are egosyntonic; the person perceives them as rational and wanted, being the result of, for example, strong adherence to routines, a desire for control, or a need for perfection. OCPD is highly comorbid with other personality disorders, autism spectrum, eating disorders, anxiety, mood disorders, and substance use disorders.The disorder is the most common personality disorder in the United States, and is diagnosed twice as often in males as in females, however, there is evidence to suggest the prevalence between men and women is equal.
Eating disorders
Perfectionism has been linked with Anorexia Nervosa in research for decades. A researcher in 1949 described the behavior of the average "anorexic girl" as being "rigid" and "hyperconscious", observing a tendency to "[n]eatness, meticulosity, and a mulish stubbornness not amenable to reason [which] make her a rank perfectionist". So common are such traits as perfectionism and rigidity among anorectics, that they have been referred to in clinical literature as "classical childhood features of patients with anorexia nervosa" or classical premorbid personality descriptors of anorexia nervosa".Regardless of the prevalence of the full-fledged OCPD among eating disordered samples, the presence of this personality disorder or its traits, such as perfectionism, has been found to be positively correlated with a range of complications in eating disorders and a negative outcome, as opposed to impulsive features—those linked with histrionic personality disorder, for example—which predict a better outcome from treatment. OCPD predicts more severe symptoms of Anorexia Nervosa, and worse remission rates, however, OCPD and perfectionistic traits predicted a higher acceptance of treatment, which was defined as undergoing 5 weeks of treatment.People with Anorexia Nervosa who exercise excessively display a higher prevalence of several OCPD traits when compared to their counterparts who did not exercise excessively. The traits included self-imposed perfectionism, and the childhood OCPD traits of being rule-bound and cautious. It may be that people with OCPD traits are more likely to use exercise alongside restricting food intake in order to mitigate fears of increased weight, reduce anxiety, or reduce obsessions related to weight gain.