Approaches to the Diagnosis and Treatment of OCD with Comorbid Tic Disorders

Opinion statement
Bidirectional overlap has long been described between obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and tic disorders. Similar features, including underlying neurobiological genesis in frontal-striatal circuitry, familiality, relatively early onset, waxing and waning course, and overlapping phenomenology in repetitive behaviors, suggest different variations of the same disorder. Nevertheless, some differences have been described between OCD and tic disorders: tics begin early in childhood and typically attenuate or remit by late adolescence, whereas OCD tends to onset later and persist, and tic disorders are far more common in males than is the case in OCD. Individuals with OCD plus comorbid tics may represent a specific sub-type of OCD or tic disorders, and possess some important phenomenological differences from those with OCD without tics; for example, tic-related OCD tends to have earlier onset, higher prevalence in males, prominent symmetry, evening-up, counting, and “just-right” phenomenology, when compared with non-tic-related OCD. Recent DSM-5 classification changes now recognize presence of tics as a specifier in diagnosis of OCD; despite a 40 % prevalence rate of comorbid tics in childhood-onset OCD, there is still little data regarding risk factors, validated distinguishing features, course and treatment of this diagnostic group. Prominence of premonitory sensory phenomena, urges or sensations experienced prior to the repetitive beh...

Source: Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry - July 10, 2016 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research