Bernardo Dell'Osso1,2,3,4, Beatrice Benatti1,2, Benedetta Grancini1,2, Matteo Vismara1,2, Vera De Carlo1,2, Giovanna Cirnigliaro1,2, Umberto Albert4, Caterina Viganò1,2. 1. Department of Scienze Biomediche e Cliniche 'Luigi Sacco', Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy. 2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA. 3. CRC 'Aldo Ravelli' for Neuro-technology and Experimental Brain Therapeutics, University of Milan, Milan, Italy. 4. Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Abstract
Aim: Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a disabling condition, often associated with early onset and chronic course. Early onset combined to the secretiveness that frequently characterises the condition, as well as patient's beliefs that OC symptoms do not represent a medical condition and that OCD can remit spontaneously, are all factors contributing to delayed diagnosis and first treatment, particularly of pharmacological nature. Methods: In this short report, authors performed a review of the most recent literature in the field.Conclusions: The current literature clearly delineates a duration of untreated illness of several years (around 7 years in the majority of the reports), which represented, on average, a portion ranging between the 40 and 70% of the overall duration of untreated illness.
Aim: Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a disabling condition, often associated with early onset and chronic course. Early onset combined to the secretiveness that frequently characterises the condition, as well as patient's beliefs that OC symptoms do not represent a medical condition and that OCD can remit spontaneously, are all factors contributing to delayed diagnosis and first treatment, particularly of pharmacological nature. Methods: In this short report, authors performed a review of the most recent literature in the field.Conclusions: The current literature clearly delineates a duration of untreated illness of several years (around 7 years in the majority of the reports), which represented, on average, a portion ranging between the 40 and 70% of the overall duration of untreated illness.
Entities:
Keywords:
Obsessive compulsive disorder; duration of illness; duration of untreated illness