title: Seasonal mood changes in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
abstract: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is frequently associated with mood disorders. However, to date, the co-occurrence of OCD with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) has not been investigated. We have aimed to estimate the prevalence of seasonal mood changes in patients with OCD and explore the contribution of seasonality in mood to the severity of OCD. The Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ), the Yale-Brown Obsession and Compulsion Scale (Y-BOCS), the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17 Items (HDRS-17), and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were administered to patients with OCD (n=104) and controls (n=125). The degree of seasonality was measured by the Global Seasonality Score (GSS) calculated from the SPAQ. SAD and subsyndromal seasonal affective disorder (S-SAD) were significantly more prevalent in patients with OCD (53%, n=55) than controls (25%, n=31). When patients were assessed in the season in which SAD occurs, depression and compulsions (but not obsessions, OCD or anxiety) were more severe than those assessed in a season during which SAD does not occur. SAD frequently co-occurs with OCD and, given this co-occurrence, depression symptoms in some patients with OCD might be expected to vary on a seasonal basis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Uskudar University, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: oguz.tan@uskudar.edu.tr.
authors.forename: Oğuz
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Neurology, Uskudar University, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Barış
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Metin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Uskudar University, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Barış Önen
authors.initials: BÖ
authors.lastname: Ünsalver
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Uskudar University, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Gökben Hızlı
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Sayar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001007:Anxiety / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D003192:Compulsive Behavior / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009770:Obsessive Behavior / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D015995:Prevalence; D016574:Seasonal Affective Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D012621:Seasons; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Anxiety; Depression; Psychiatric comorbidity; Seasonal depression