Abstract

FRIAS IBANEZ, Álvaro; PALMA SEVILLANO, Carolina; HORTA LLOVET, Ana  and  BONET ALVAREZ, Judit. Traumatic events in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder: etiopathogenic, nosological, and therapeutic implications. Rev. Asoc. Esp. Neuropsiq. [online]. 2013, vol.33, n.119, pp.595-601. ISSN 2340-2733.  https://dx.doi.org/10.4321/S0211-57352013000300009.

Introduction. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a neuropsychiatric condition where an accessory role of psychosocial risk factors is advocated. However, there is a subgroup of obsessive patients whose etiology, phenomenology, diagnosis and therapeutic features are conditioned by the presence of traumatic events (TE). Clinical case. A young adult woman developed OCD and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after suffering sexual abuse during early adolescence. Although psychotropic and psychotherapeutic conventional treatments were implemented, the course was fluctuating, exacerbated in the context of a new sexual assault. Conclusions. TE constitute a nonspecific risk factor for OCD, either predisposing or precipitating variable. Additionally, they can determine their pathoplasty, the best example being the presence of "mental pollution" obsessions after suffering sexual abuse. There is preliminary evidence to postulate a new clinical entity ("posttraumatic obsessive-compulsive disorder"), which encompasses subjects with OCD and PTSD comorbidity after TE. Obsessions in patients with "mental pollution" require additional psychotherapeutic strategies compared to neurobiological homonyms

Keywords : obsessive-compulsive disorder; posttraumatic stress disorder; comorbidity.

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