Obsessive-compulsive disorder and comorbid anxiety problems in a national anxiety screening sample

Questionnaire data were obtained from 5867 participants attending a national anxiety screening program. These participants were selected from more than 15,000 respondents on the basis of never having received treatment for a mental health problem. A screening instrument was designed to assess five anxiety disorders (obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, and panic disorder). The present study focused on those participants meeting full or partial screening criteria for obsessive-compulsive disorder (n = 3212), with those not meeting criteria for obsessive-compulsive disorder (n = 2655) serving as a comparison group. Significant relationships were found between questionnaire scores on both interference with daily living, readiness for treatment, and the number of comorbid anxiety problems. These findings shed light on the extent to which undiagnosed and untreated persons with obsessional or compulsive symptoms, or both, are experiencing, as well as the factors that may lead them to seek formal psychiatric or psychological treatment.