Table of Contents
How is OCD clinically diagnosed?
Diagnosis and Tests There’s no test for OCD. A healthcare provider makes the diagnosis after asking you about your symptoms and medical and mental health history. Providers use criteria explained in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-V) to diagnose OCD. OCD is ruled by intrusive thoughts called, obsessions that cause anxiety and force the person to perform compulsions for relief. OCPD is ruled by perfectionism and detail. Unlike individuals with OCD, people with OCPD are not self-aware and can hurt the people around them. There are a variety of conditions that have obsessive compulsive disorder qualities that are quite similar to OCD such as PANDAS, body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), hoarding disorder, trichotillomania, compulsive skin picking, hypochondria, and olfactory reference syndrome. Neuroimaging research that implicates the prefrontal striatal cortex as an important location for executive functioning in the brain, supports the theory that malfunctioning in this brain area causes OCD. The moral of the story is that OCD is no longer categorized as an anxiety disorder in the DSM. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common, chronic, and long-lasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts (obsessions) and/or behaviors (compulsions) that he or she feels the urge to repeat over and over.
Is there a psychological test for OCD?
The Y-BOCS is considered the gold standard assessment tool for OCD symptom severity and possesses good psychometric properties (see Table 1). The Y-BOCS Total Severity score shows good internal consistency, excellent interrater reliability, and good test–retest reliability over a two-week interval. The Y-BOCS, a 10-item, clinician-administered scale, has become the most widely used rating scale for OCD. The Y-BOCS is designed to rate symptom severity, not to establish a diagnosis. Serotonergic antidepressants, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and clomipramine, are the established pharmacologic first-line treatment of OCD. Medium to large dosages and acute treatment for at least 3 months are recommended until efficacy is assessed. Exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, a type of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), is the gold-standard treatment for OCD. The answer to that is yes. There are options you can practice at home to help fight against your OCD, and our team at Colorado Recovery Solutions wants to find the best fit for you and your mental health. History of OCD as an Anxiety Disorder This remains the same in the edition currently in use, the DSM-5-TR. While GAD remains in the anxiety disorders section, OCD now resides in a section called Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Conditions.