[Obsessive-compulsive disorders versus obsessive-compulsive syndromes. Comparative study of two surveys of the general population and of psychiatric consultants].

Recent epidemiological studies were conducted in the general population, showing high rate prevalence of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), estimated between 2 and 3% in the community. Although investigation of OCD prevalence had challenged the "real" definition of diagnostic threshold-criteria. Recent data from the Zurich study and from a large french clinical survey had confirmed the high prevalence and the validity of the subsyndromal forms of OCD (which are labelled as OCS or Obsessive-Compulsive Syndroms). In the Zurich study, lifetime prevalence rates of OCS was estimated to 5.5%. Point prevalence rates of OCS was recorded at 19.2% in the French survey (population of 4364 new patients seeking psychiatric help). In the two studies, a significant association between OCS and other disorders (major depression, dysthymia, phobic disorders) was found. Lifetime suicide attempts rate was found in 16-18% of subjects suffering from OCS (respectively in the Zurich and the French studies). These results confirmed that OCS (or subsyndromal forms of OCD) seemed to represent a clinically valid subgroup which modern classification systems fail to recognize, requiring treatment.