Author Interviews, Karolinski Institute, Mental Health Research / 20.07.2016
OCD Patients Have Much Greater Risk of Suicide
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Lorena Fernández de la Cruz | Assistant Professor
Department of Clinical Neuroscience | Karolinska Institutet
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Research Center
Stockholm
MedicalResearch.com: What is OCD?
Response: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders. OCD has a lifetime prevalence of about two per cent in the general population, generally runs a chronic course, and is often associated with a significantly reduced quality of life. Despite this, the risk of suicide in OCD has traditionally been considered low, probably due the particular personality profile of this patient group, typically described as “harm avoidant”. However, we have seen that the risk of suicide is higher than previously thought.
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