This study was to investigate the form and content of obsessions and compulsions in the obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The subjects of the study were 160 patients who were diagnosed as obsessive-compulsivedisorder according to DSM-III or DSM-III-R at the psychiatric outpatient clinics Kyungpook and Keimyung University Hospitals over the period of 11 years, Jan.
1980-Dec
1990.
237 obsessions and 126 compulsion were identified from the subjects and classified into form and content according to the classificatory system designed for this study. In the classificatory system. 6 categories of form and 13 categories of
content
for
obsessions and 4 categories of form and 7 categories of content for compulsions were dilineated.
@ES The results were as follows:
@EN 1) In obsessions, fear(35.9%) was the most common form followed by thought, doubt, image, and urge in order of the frequency of their occurrence. As the content of obsessions. Contamination(18.6%) was most frequent followed by daily
activities,
security, harm, abnormal sensation, sex, illness, past, death, philosophy and religion, aggression, and body distortion. In combination of form with content, the fear of contamination(15.2%) was the most common theme followed by doubt about
security,
fear of harm, doubt of daily activities. Fear of illness, and thought of abnormal sensation.
2) In compulsions, the forms of checking(38.9%) and cleaning(38.1%) revealed almost equally on the top followed by being meticulous and avoiding. As the content of compulsions. Daily activities(34.1%) was most frequent in occurrence and then
washing,
security, spitting. Touching and counting were followed. In combination of form with content, cleaning through washing(31.0%) was the most common theme followed by checking for security, being rneticuious of daily activities, and checking of
dialy
activities.
3) Comparing the above results with the previous studies, the fear of contamination and the cleaning through washing were the most common themes. However, the doubt and the checking for security in this study appeared remarkably in high
frequency
as
compared with the previous studies performed in foreign countres. This may be supposed to reflect mistrust, uncertainty, and insecurity of modern Korean society.
|