Open AccessBidirectional comorbidity between bipolarand obsessive-compulsive disorders: symptoms frequency, treatment challenges and underexplored areas
Author(s) -
Trino Baptista,
Lisette Galué,
Fabiola Martínez
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
investigación clínica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2477-9393
DOI - 10.22209/ic.v61n3a01
Subject(s) - comorbidity , hypomania , mania , psychopathology , bipolar disorder , psychiatry , mood , clinical psychology , population , psychology , obsessive compulsive , mood disorders , medicine , anxiety , environmental health
The high comorbidity of bipolar- (BD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a challenge in the psychiatric field. This topic has been scarcely investigated in Latin America, and we could not find published studies conducted in Venezuela. Given the common difficulty to establish a categorical diagnosis in comorbid conditions, we assessed the frequency of current OC symptoms (OCS) in subjects with primary BD, and of BD symptoms (BDS) insubjects with primary OCD. We administered the Yale-Brown Obsessive-CompulsiveScale (Y-BOCS) to 40 patients with BD, and the Young Mania RatingScale (YMRS) and the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) to 42 patients withOCD. We observed clinically significant OCS (Y-BOCS score ≥ 16) in 20% of BDsubjects, and current hypomania or mania in 16.7% and 19% of OCD patientsrespectively. A significant positive correlation between age and YMRS was detectedin OCD females, p = 0.04. We here confirmed the high comorbidity inthe bipolar and obsessive-compulsive dimensions. Numerous studies identifythe clinical burden, diagnostic difficulties and treatment intricacy of this comorbidity,which warrants for further research to assist this sensible population.We illustrate the challenges of pharmacological and psychological treatment,and the issue of family history of psychopathology, with two conspicuousclinical vignettes extracted from the studied sample.