A RECONSIDERATION OF THE NOSOLOGICAL STATUS OF OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER

Recent work in the area of epidemiology, phe nomenology, etiology, and classification has kindled a complex debate regarding the clinical validity of the nosological designation of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as an anxiety disorder. This debate has prompted the reexamination of assumptions regarding the nature of OCD, challenged the assumption that anxiety is at the core of this disorder, and resulted in the reconceptualization of OCD as a distinct diagnostic entity. The emerging view of pCD as a distinct neuropsychiatric disorder worthy of its own diagnostic category (and possibly an associated spectrum of related disorders) has been supported by studies of the symptom profiles, patterns of comorbidity and familial psychiatric diagnoses, pathophysiological abnormalities, and responses to pharmacological and behavioral treatments chat are characteristic of OCD but divergent from other psychiatric disorders.