Impact of Bipolar Disorder and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Comorbidity on Neurocognitive Profile: A Mini-Review

The comorbidity of bipolar disorder (BD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is widely known. The overall rate of association between BD and OCD is very high and varies, depending on the authors, from 11% to 18%, with peaks of 21% in primarily bipolar patients. Vice versa, about 60% of patients with OCD have a second psychiatric diagnosis, which in 23% of cases turns out to be BD. The differences between the BD patients with and without OCD were so numerous and important (e.g., different onset of mood episodes, history of suicide attempts, seasonality, rapid cycling and impulsivity) that the comorbidity between BD and OCD may represent a distinct form of BD, similar to cyclothymic BD for psychopathological features. However, the comorbidity does not seem to have any impact on cognitive performance, such as there is no specific difference between patients who first develop BD and then OCD or vice versa. Anyway, the detection of the neurocognitive profile of these patients at the time of the first clinical evaluation could have clinical implications also in the therapeutic and rehabilitative management of this type of patient. Indeed, it would be desirable to develop a new model of rehabilitation that is less differentiated for both BD and OCD or for their comorbidity, also to make cognitive rehabilitation faster and less expensive. The purpose of this mini-review is to update the knowledge currently available on the impact of BD and OCD comorbidity on neurocognitive profile.