Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) commonly co-occurs with other psychiatric conditions. In recent years, network analysis has been employed to investigate the relationship between OCD and some of...Show moreObsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) commonly co-occurs with other psychiatric conditions. In recent years, network analysis has been employed to investigate the relationship between OCD and some of its comorbidities. The objective of the current thesis was to explore the comorbidity network of OCD in relation to seven other psychiatric conditions, some of whose interactions with OCD have not been investigated by the former network analysis papers. The thesis made use of an open-source data which was collected from patients who registered to the Behavioural Health Partial (BHP) hospital program at McLean Hospital, Massachusetts between 30 November 2018–16 October 2019. The final sample consisted of 532 people. Their responses to four measures, namely Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders Dimensional Scales, Patient Health Questionnaire, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, Drug Alcohol Craving Scale were analysed using network analysis. In total, we estimated two regularized partial correlation networks. The first network consisted of eight nodes representing eight psychiatric conditions. Differing from the former network in one way, the second one represented OCD and depression at a symptom level. Network 1 showed that OCD was connected to all other obsessive-compulsive and related disorder (OCRD)’s and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) but not to depression and drug alcohol craving. In this network, OCD was only linked to depression through other OCRD’s and GAD. Further, our results highlighted the importance of fatigue as it was one of the most central nodes in Network 2.Show less
Background: A large number of studies have been conducted on the topic of comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in borderline personality disorder (BPD), however, there is hardly any...Show moreBackground: A large number of studies have been conducted on the topic of comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in borderline personality disorder (BPD), however, there is hardly any research that examines the comorbidity rate of PTSD in non-BPD personality disorders (PDs). Knowledge about all clusters of PDs in terms of comorbid PTSD is needed in order to generate a more detailed clinical picture of PDs. Aims: This study is primarily designed to investigate the point-prevalence of comorbid PTSD in clinical practice and, in addition, to explore to what extent the point-prevalence of comorbid PTSD differs between BPD and non-BPD PD patients and gender. Secondly, this study also investigates whether the amount of comorbid disorders is predicted by BPD (versus non-BPD PDs), PTSD and/or gender. Methods: For this retrospective study, data of 183 PD patients was used. During the intake process, the PD diagnosis and comorbid psychiatric disorders were examined using The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-V and The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview Plus. Results: The point-prevalence rates of comorbid PTSD in this non-BPD PD sample is 12.7% and in this BPD sample is 23.1%. Additionally, there was no difference in likelihood of comorbid PTSD in BPD and non-BPD PD patients and between gender. Furthermore, BPD (versus non-BPD PDs), PTSD and gender did not predict the amount of comorbid disorders. Conclusions and implications: The results indicate that in clinical practice, comorbid PTSD and other comorbid disorders might not be recognized so often and thus might be underdiagnosed in PD patients. Hence, there must be more sensitivity in clinical practice for the recognition of comorbid PTSD and other comorbid disorders in PD patients.Show less
