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09:29
Signal Attenuation as a Rat Model of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Published on: January 9, 2015
Is obsessive-compulsive disorder an anxiety disorder?
Jennifer A Bartz1, Eric Hollander
1Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1230, New York, NY 10029, USA. jennifer.bartz@mssm.edu
Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry
|February 4, 2006
Summary
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) may be better classified within an obsessive-compulsive (OC) spectrum rather than anxiety disorders. Evidence from comorbidity, family, and biological studies supports this reclassification for DSM-V.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Neuroscience
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is currently classified as an anxiety disorder.
- A growing consensus suggests a spectrum of obsessive-compulsive (OC) related disorders, including OCD, body dysmorphic disorder, eating disorders, pathological gambling, and autism.
- These disorders share OC features, similar patient characteristics, course, comorbidity, neurobiology, and treatment responses.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate whether OCD is best conceptualized as an anxiety disorder or an OC spectrum disorder.
- To review evidence supporting the potential reclassification of OCD.
- To discuss the implications of moving OCD to an OC spectrum category in the DSM-V.
Main Methods:
- Review of comorbidity and family studies.
- Examination of biological evidence, including neurocircuitry and neurotransmitter function.
- Analysis of pharmacologic treatment response data.
Main Results:
- Shared obsessive-compulsive features across disorders.
- Similarities in patient characteristics, clinical course, and comorbidity.
- Evidence from neurobiology and treatment response suggests a distinct OC spectrum.
Conclusions:
- The evidence supports conceptualizing OCD within a broader OC spectrum disorder category.
- Reclassifying OCD in the DSM-V may better reflect its underlying pathology and treatment.
- This shift has significant implications for understanding and treating related conditions.
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