OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE-DISORDER WITH AND WITHOUT TICS IN AN EPIDEMIOLOGIC SAMPLE OF ADOLESCENTS

Objective: This study was undertaken to discriminate subtypes of obses sive-compulsive disorder in adolescents. Method: Forty individuals wit h obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders were ascertained from an epi demiological sample of 861 adolescents. Interviews were conducted by c hild psychiatrists using semistructured diagnostic interviews, includi ng a clinician-rated Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale. Discrimina nt analysis was performed to compare the scores on the Yale-Brown scal e of groups with and without comorbid tics and to compare boys and gir ls. Results: Adolescents with tics were more prone to aggressive and s exual images and obsessions than were adolescents without tics; these differences could not be wholly attributed to sex differences. Conclus ions: The subtypes among unreferred adolescents are similar to those o f adult patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder with and without G illes de la Tourette syndrome. Subtypes evident in adulthood may be es tablished relatively early in the natural course of obsessive-compulsi ve disorder.