The impact of symptomatic hoarding in OCD and its treatment.
BACKGROUND
The value of defining subtypes in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) has become an important issue for recent debate. Probably the most robust example of subtyping is the identification of hoarding as being different both in terms of psychopathology and response to treatment.


OBJECTIVE
To identify differences in psychopathology and treatment response in OCD patients with and without additional hoarding symptoms.


METHODS
Patients who had undertaken CBT for OCD were selected as falling into either a high or a low hoarding group. The high hoarding group (n = 18) was selected on the basis of a high score on the hoarding subscale of a self-report measure of OCD symptoms in addition to reaching clinician judged "threshold" on the hoarding item of the Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) SCID-II module. The low hoarding group (n = 20) was selected on the basis of a low score on the hoarding subscale and a clinician judgement that the hoarding item of the OCPD SCID-II module was "absent".


RESULTS
On some measures of pre-treatment psychopathology, patients with OCD with hoarding symptoms were more severely affected than those without hoarding symptoms. It was found that there was no difference in eventual treatment outcome between the two groups, although there was some evidence that the hoarding group showed greater symptom decreases.


CONCLUSIONS
The presence of hoarding symptoms does not negatively impact on the treatment of OCD.
Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK. catherine.seaman@rmh.nhs.uk
Catherine
C
Seaman
Victoria B
VB
Oldfield
Olivia
O
Gordon
Elizabeth
E
Forrester
Paul M
PM
Salkovskis
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009769:Object Attachment; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D055815:Young Adult