Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in Youth: A Psychological Red Flag?

Engaging in repetitive and ritualistic behaviors is part of typical child development. However, behaviors that develop into obsessive and compulsive symptoms (OCS) may represent a red flag for serious psychiatric conditions. Researchers at the Lifespan Brain Institute (LiBI) of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found children and young adults with OCS who also admitted to having bad thoughts were more likely to also experience psychopathology, including depression and suicide. This is the first and largest study examining OCS in more than 7,000 participants aged 11 to 21. The findings were published online last month in the Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Researchers divided OCS into four categories: bad thoughts, repeating/checking, symmetry, and cleaning/contamination. More than 20 percent of youth admitted to having bad intrusive thoughts, which included thoughts about harming oneself or others, picturing violent images, or fear that one would do something bad without intending to. These children were more likely to develop serious psychopathology beyond obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), including depression and suicide.