Schizophrenia and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Schizophrenia and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Schizophrenia and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
obsessive-compulsive disorder
DENISA-OANA CLIN1, TEFANIA TOT-BORNESCU1, SIMONA MACOVEI2
ABSTRACT:
The presence of obsessive-compulsive symptoms
(OCS) or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is common in patients with schizophrenia. The impact of OCS
and OCD on the severity of psychotic symptoms has been
assessed in several studies. There is growing evidence that
patients with comorbid obsessivecompulsive disorder
(OCD) and schizophrenia may represent a special category of the schizophrenia population. Contemporary investigators contend that there may be a specific pattern of
neurobiologic dysfunction in this subgroup of patients that
accounts for symptom co-expression. Accurate diagnosis
is important, given that current treatments for OCD and
schizophrenia differ and the choice of diagnosis made has
prognostic implications.
Key Words: obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, comorbidity
REZUMAT:
Prezena simptomelor obsesiv-compulsive este
comun la pacienii cu schizofrenie. Impactul OCS i
OCD asupra severitii simptomelor psihotice a fost
prezentat n diferite studii. Exist tot mai multe dovezi care
susin c pacienii cu schizofrenie i tulburare obsesiv
compulsiv ar putea reprezenta o categorie special.
Studiile arat c ar putea exista un model specific de disfuncie neurobiologic la acest subgrup de pacieni, care s
determine co-expresia simptomelor. Un diagnostic corect
este important, deoarece tratamentele pentru OCD i pentru schizofrenie sunt diferite, iar diagnosticul ales are i
implicaii asupra prognosticului.
Cuvinte cheie: tulburare obsesiv compulsiv,
schizofrenie, comorbiditi.
INTRODUCTION
Schizophrenic patients may have obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms and patients that have obsessive-
compulsive disorder (OCD) may have psychotic symptoms. The lifetime comorbidity rate of schizophrenia and
OCD was reported to be higher than the individual lifetime
prevalence rate of each disorder and, therefore, researchers
suggest that there might be a psychopathological relationship between schizophrenia and OCD. Both disorders have
early age onsets. Both disorders have a chronic course and
affect males and females similarly. Both disorders are
characterized by disturbing thoughts and bizarre behaviour. A growing literature suggests that obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) and obsessive-compulsive disorder
(OCD) occur in a higher proportion of patients with schizophrenia than was originally suspected .There is a common assumption that both disorders affect the same
anatomical pathways, and that afferent impulses are not
filtered adequately by the thalamus. Although the neurobiological basis of schizophrenia and OCD have been
explained with comparative studies and despite all supportive epidemiological and biological findings, the relationship between OCD and schizophrenia is not well
understood (Glcan et al., 2008, Kumbhani et al. 2010 ).
COMORBIDITY BETWEEN SCHIZOPHRENIA
AND OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER
Co-occurrence of obsessivecompulsive symptoms
(OCS) and psychotic illness was first recognized over a
century ago (Bottas et al. 2005). Early descriptions of
obsessive-compulsive symptoms in schizophrenia can be
found in Bleulers monography on dementia praecox.
compulsive thinking (obsession) is the most common of
all the automatic phenomena, Bleuler stated, and further
described OCS in schizophrenia as automatisms, which
are comparable to auditory or visual hallucinations in that
they are hallucinations of thinking, striving, and wanting
. Confirming these observations, case reports and larger
systematic studies have since suggested that more than a
third of the persons with schizophrenia experience clini-
1 Resident physician in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department, Prof. Dr. Al. Obregia Hospital of Psychiatry,
Bucharest
2 MD, Primary doctor in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department, Prof. Dr. Al. Obregia Psychiatry Hospital,
Bucharest, Assistant Professor Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila Bucharest, Romania
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ical aspect of schizophrenia and can include social anhedonia. In contrast, lack of interpersonal relatedness and social
anhedonia are not characteristic of OCD, and social dysfunction is not required for an OCD diagnosis. On the
other hand, obsessive-compulsive symptoms can certainly
lead to social dysfunction. (Rodriguez et al., 2010)
SUGGESTIONS FOR IDENTIFYING OCS IN THE
PRESENCE OF PSYCHOSIS
1. The types of obsessions and compulsions observed
in schizophrenia are phenomenologically similar to those
present in pure OCD.
2. A repetitious act should be considered a compulsion only if it occurs in response to an obsession and not if
it occurs in response to psychotic ideation (e.g., repetitive
checking in response to paranoid fears does not constitute
a compulsion).
3. A recurrent, intrusive, ego-dystonic thought should
not be considered an obsession if it revolves exclusively
around current delusional themes (e.g., violent images,
which constitute a common type of obsession in OCD,
may represent an entirely different phenomenological entity in the context of psychosis). In the acute psychotic
phase it may be necessary to exclude questionable obsessions and reassess for these after the psychotic symptoms
have been treated.
4. OCS may be difficult to distinguish in the presence
of thought form disorder; it may therefore be necessary to
reassess for OCS once thought form has normalized.
5. Primary obsessional slowness may be mistaken for
prodromal schizophrenia or thought disorder; such patients
may be unable to articulate any obsessions and may exhibit no compulsions.
6. At times it may not be possible to determine if
apparent OCS in the presence of psychosis represent real
OCS; in such cases empiric treatment with a neuroleptic
and a serotonin reuptake inhibitor (the standard treatment
for OCD) may be necessary. (Bottas et al, 2005)
NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE OF OBSESSIVE- COMPULSIVE SCHIZOPHRENIA
OC-schizophrenia patients possess a distinct clinical
and neuropsychological profile that differs from that of
their non-OC schizophrenic counterparts. This profile
includes a worse clinical course with poor treatment
response, lower functioning levels, and greater impairment
of functions primarily subserved by the frontal lobes.
(Hwang et al. 2000). Co-occurrence of schizophrenia and
OCS reflects the presence of both the structural and functional abnormalities associated with schizophrenia and
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the emergence of de novo OCD or exacerbation of preexisting OCD in patients with schizophrenia who have
been treated with atypical antipsychotics. Such paradoxical findings are a testimony to the extreme complexity of
the neurotransmitter systems involved in each disorder.
(Bottas et al., 2005; Poyurovsky et al 2007, Hwang et al.
2000)
NEUROANATOMY AND NEUROCIRCUITRY
Several investigators have hypothesized that similarities in the neurocircuitry and specific anatomic structures
implicated in each disorder may account for symptom coexpression. The functional circuitry involved in the pathophysiology of OCD is generally believed to involve a cortico-striatal-thalamic-cortical circuit. Specific structures
involved in this pathway include the basal ganglia,
orbitofrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex. In schizophrenia, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex circuit contains
anatomic substrates similar to those of the OCD
orbitofrontal circuit. Thus, the specific neuroanatomic
sites identified by structural and functional neuroimaging
studies performed in each of these disorders independently show considerable overlap in implicated structures,
including the basal ganglia, thalamus, anterior cingulum,
orbitofrontal cortex and regions of the temporal cortex,
although some of these findings are controversial. (Bottas
et al., 2005; Poyurovsky et al 2007)
NEUROIMAGING STUDIES
Neuroimaging studies suggest that there may be a
specific pattern of neuroanatomic dysfunction in the
comorbid subgroup. Aoyama et al performed MRI in subjects with juvenile-onset schizophrenia and OCS and
found significantly smaller left hippocampi in this group
than in subjects who had schizophrenia without OCS and
in control groups. These researchers also found an inverse
correlation between illness duration and frontal lobe size
in the group with both schizophrenia and OCS, but not in
the group with schizophrenia only. In another MRI study
of patients with juvenile-onset schizophrenia, investigators
demonstrated significant enlargement of the anterior horn
of the lateral ventricle and the third ventricle in patients
with OCS relative to those without OCS. In a study of
functional MRI performed on patients with schizophrenia
and various degrees of OCS, one subgroup exhibited a
negative correlation between activation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and OCS severity. Taken together,
these findings suggest specific neuroanatomic abnormalities in the overlap group that differ from what is observed
in each disorder individually. (Bottas et al., 2005)
PRINCIPLES OF TREATMENT
A few studies have addressed how to treat patients
with both schizophrenia and OCD . Based on these studies, OCD treatment guidelines suggest that these patients
should first be stabilized on a second-generation antipsychotic and the obsessive-compulsive symptoms subsequently treated by the addition of an SRI. Whether these
patients require SRIs at the high doses needed in patients
with OCD without a comorbid psychotic disorder is
unclear: obsessive-compulsive symptoms in the context of
psychotic disorder have been found to respond to lower
doses of fluvoxamine (100200 mg/day) than typically
used in treatment of OCD (250300 mg/day). Poyurovsky
and colleagues proposed that those who do not respond to
the steps above be switched to another SRI or
clomipramine, to another second-generation antipsychotic,
or to a first-generation antipsychotic with an SRI or
clomipramine. If these strategies are ineffective, they propose clozapine at a low dosage (75300 mg/day), SRI augmentation of clozapine, and finally ECT . Combining
antipsychotics and SRIs (e.g., fluvoxamine and clozapine;
clomipramine and clozapine; paroxetine and risperidone or
a phenothiazine) requires careful monitoring for drug-drug
interactions and for possible exacerbation of obsessional
or psychotic symptoms . In patients with co-occurring
schizophrenia and OCD or obsessive-compulsive symptoms, if antipsychotic medication induces obsessive-compulsive symptoms, there are several options: waiting for
spontaneous resolution (46 weeks), gradually reducing
the dosage of antipsychotic, switching to another antipsychotic, adding an SRI to target the obsessive-compulsive
symptoms (e.g., fluvoxamine, clomipramine, sertraline),
or attempting a trial of exposure and response prevention .
The evidence base for these approaches is limited. Some
patients with both schizophrenia and OCD, remain symptomatic despite the treatment recommendations listed
above. Recent data have implicated glutamatergic abnormalities in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, OCD,
and depression . Lamotrigine is an anticonvulsant typically used for seizure disorders and maintenance treatment in
bipolar disorder. In addition to its varied mechanisms of
action, lamotrigine inhibits glutamate release. In schizophrenia, there is preliminary evidence that lamotrigine (at
dosages of 200 mg/day and higher) might be effective for
psychotic symptoms when added to clozapine but not
when added to antipsychotics other than clozapine. In
OCD, an open-label study found that one of eight patients
responded to lamotrigine augmentation of an SSRI
(although the lamotrigine dosage was only 100 mg/day),
and there has been a case report of marked improvement
with lamotrigine augmentation (150 mg/day) of clomip-
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