A cross sectional study of sociodemographic profile, disability and family burden in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder

Background: Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by the presence of obsessions (intrusive and unwanted repetitive thoughts, urges, or impulses that often lead to a marked increase in anxiety or distress) and/ or compulsions (repeated behaviours or mental acts that are done in response to obsessions). OCD patients report general impairment in their functioning and family burden. They also suffer from disability in several areas of daily life.Methods: This study has a cross-sectional design, and author included total 200 consecutive selected OCD patients diagnosed according to International Classification of Disease (ICD)-10.Results: Most of respondent included in this study were married male (74%), belonged to Hindu religion and urban background (68%) with mean age of 33 year (SD=9.91), 88% subjects were found to be employed in this study, educated middle standard and above. In this study, maximum disability was noted in domains of work (mean score 1.10) and communication and understanding (mean score 0.70), the impairment in interpersonal activity was lesser (mean score 0.34). The domain in which the maximum burden was found among family members is disruption of routine/ family activities overall (52%).Conclusions: The study aimed at assessing the burden in families and disability in subjects having OCD. Subjects were of either sex having age 16 and above. All subjects were assessed using following structured clinical instruments, Yale-brown symptom check list, Yale-brown obsessive-compulsive symptom severity scale, family burden interview, and Indian disability evaluation and assessment scale.