Handbook on Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders

Reviews / Votes

This Handbook has a story that has its roots in the
text by Eric Hollander, Joseph Zohar, Paul J. Sirovatka & Darrel A.
Regier, Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders. Refining the
Research Agenda for DSM-V (Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing,
2011), and in the innovations that were introduced with the DSM-5: in
particular, the inclusion of obsessive compulsive disorder in a separate
sector compared to that in which it was previously placed, ie the area of
anxiety disorders. This change, in the opinion of the authors, has a
significant impact on improving the way in which clinicians diagnose and
treat patients who present the broad spectrum of situations that revolve
around obsessive and compulsive issues. But also, researchers can find in
this new arrangement - which, it should be remembered, includes different
configurations in addition to the classic obsessive-compulsive disorder - a
different and more useful basic framework (see pp. 271-306 of the DSM-5. and
statistics of mental disorders Milan: Raffaello Cortina, 2014).


The eleven chapters of the text, written by twenty-two authors who have
all been involved in the work of the Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Sub-Work
Group for the development of the DSM-5, covers a wide range of clinical
situations (from accumulation disorders to tic, trichotillomania and
excoriation disorders), especially considering the fundamental aspects of
diagnosis, differential diagnosis and treatment. About this second point the
indication that runs through the entire text is that of cognitive-behavioral
therapy (Cognitive-Bahavioral Therapy [CBT]), considered as the first-line
treatment together with the latest generation drugs, selective inhibitors of
the re-uptake of serotonin (known as SSRI, from the English Selective
Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors).

A modest space is then reserved for
what is called "psychoeducation", while psychodynamic therapy is mentioned
en passant only once and critically. The interest in the complex of
obsessive-compulsive disorders also arises from the spread of these problems
and from the frequent situation of comorbidity (especially anxiety,
depressive and bipolar disorders). The age of onset is around nineteen years
and if it is not treated this disorder tends to fluctuate, exacerbating,
with a high possibility of becoming chronic. Several authors of the text
emphasize the high cost (social and financial) paid by the company because
of the impediments that force patients affected by this condition to fail to
cope with normal life commitments: as stated in the DSM-5, we estimates
that, at world level, the percentage of the affected population is between
1.1% and 1.8%, with a slight prevalence of females on males, observing that
the onset in the male population is often precocious, ie placed in the
childhood age. The text also includes three chapters dealing with topics
strongly related to obsessive and compulsive disorders, but which have been
placed in other areas of the Manual in the DSM-5: tic disorders, the new
version of hypochondria (called "Anxiety Disorder" of disease ") and
obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. On some topics related to the
topic covered in the text it may be useful to consult Trichotillomania, Skin
Picking, and Other Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors, signed by Jon E.
Grant, Dan J. Stein, Douglas W. Woods & Nancy J. Keuthen (Washington,
DC: American Psychiatric Publishing, 2012). * Psicoterapia e Scienze Umane, 2017, Vol. 51, No. 1. *