OCD and Autism

I have written before about atypical presentations of obsessive-compulsive disorder in children, where I discuss how the symptoms of OCD are sometimes confused with autism, schizophrenia, and even Bipolar Disorder. I’ve also written about how diagnosing these various conditions can be difficult, as symptoms of each one often overlap. Sometimes it is easy to forget that we are talking about a whole person’s state of being, not just a specific diagnosis. No doubt people have manifested symptoms of these various illnesses long before the disorders were differentiated by names. Still, a proper diagnosis is important to move forward with appropriate treatment, which varies for each above-mentioned disorder. To confuse matters more, it is not unusual for someone to have comorbid mental health disorders — more than one diagnosis. As I discussed here, when my son Dan was diagnosed with OCD, he also received diagnoses of depression and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) as well. What doctors have recently confirmed is that autism and OCD frequently occur together. Autism and OCD initially appear to have little in common, yet studies indicate that up to 84% of people with autism have some form of anxiety and as many as 17% might have OCD. Additionally, an even greater proportion of people with OCD might also have undiagnosed autism. A 2015 study in Denmark tracked the health records of almost 3.4 million people over 18 years, and researchers found that people with autism ar...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Autism Children and Teens OCD Research anxiety Autism Spectrum Compulsions Obsessions Source Type: blogs