The impact of obsessive-compulsive symptoms on functioning in schizophrenia is still debated. This study investigated the relationship between OC symptoms and functioning along a severity gradient of obsessive-compulsive dimension. Sixty patients affected by schizophrenia completed the SCID-IV, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale and the Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale. The relationship between functioning and obsessive-compulsive dimension was described by a reverse U-shaped curve; functioning was positively related to the presence of mild obsessive-compulsive symptoms and inversely related to moderate and severe symptoms, after controlling for the severity of positive, negative, disorganization and general psychopathological symptoms. The role of obsessive-compulsive symptoms on social functioning in schizophrenia occurs along a severity continuum with a gradual transition from a positive correlation (from absent to mild symptoms) to an inverse correlation (for symptoms ranging from moderate to severe) and independently from schizophrenia symptom dimensions.
The onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) after age 50 is rare and generally related to an organic etiology. An involvement of fronto-striatal circuits has been strongly suggested, whereas cerebellum remains so far scarcely explored. We present here the description of a "pure" late-onset OCD associated with a cerebellar lesion, neither comorbid with other mental disorders nor with neurological syndromes. To our knowledge, this condition was not previously described in literature. The patient is a 62-year-old woman who developed a late-onset OCD associated with a left cerebellar lesion due to an arachnoid cyst in the left posterior fossa. We debate the possible role of the cerebellar lesion in favoring a transition from a predisposing liability (namely an obsessive-compulsive personality disorder and a depressive status) to the onset of OCD in this woman.
These results indicate that patients with schizophrenia exhibit a narrower range of obsessive content compared with patients with OCD; in addition, OC and delusional themes tend to be related in schizophrenia as a unique symptomatic phenomenon.
In schizophrenia, a better level of functioning has been generally associated with symptomatic remission. However, this association has been supported by cross-sectional studies or by studies with a short follow-up period. Forty-eight patients with schizophrenia were evaluated by the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale and the Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale (SOFAS) at the first episode and after a mean period of 16 years. At follow-up, patients were defined as remitters (R) or non-remitters (NR) according to the Remission Schizophrenia Working Group criteria. R (n = 18; 37.5%) compared to NR showed at the first episode a lower illness severity and a better level of functioning. A functional decline was found in both groups at follow-up, even though NR showed a more than twofold reduction than R. Better SOFAS scores at follow-up were predicted by baseline SOFAS score and less severe negative symptoms at follow-up. Schizophrenia implies a functional decline over time, regardless of the symptomatic remission status with negative symptoms playing a major role.
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