Obsessive-compulsive symptoms in schizophrenia: prevalence, clinical features and treatment. A literature review

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in schizophrenia, the clinical features of the sub-group of patients with schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive symptoms and treatment options for these patients.

Method: A literature review of studies investigating the prevalence, clinical features and treatment of patients with schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

Results: The prevalence of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in schizophrenic patients, while generally found to be higher than in the general population, varies widely between different studies. Differences in symptom severity between schizophrenic patients with obsessive-compulsive symptoms and those without have been found, however findings so far have been inconsistent. A number of case reports have implicated atypical antipsychotic medication in the emergence of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. There is evidence to support a combined treatment with an antipsychotic agent and an anti-obsessional agent.

Conclusion: Studies investigating the prevalence of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in schizophrenia and their effect on the clinical symptoms have yielded inconsistent results and further studies using larger samples of patients and looking at different subgroups of schizophrenic patients are required. Treatment options need further research to investigate whether the results of relatively small studies can be replicated.