OBSESSIONS AND COMPULSIONS IN THE COMMUNITY

A total of 810 adults were examined by psychiatrists in the second sta ge of the Eastern Baltimore Mental Health Survey. A semistructured exa mination, the Standard Psychiatric Examination, was used. The relation ships between obsessions and compulsions and personal characteristics, childhood behaviors, family history, and other psychopathology were e valuated. The estimated prevalence of obsessions and compulsions in th is population was 1.5%. Cases were significantly more likely to report having had childhood fears, learning disabilities and a family histor y of alcoholism and suicidal behavior. There were significant positive relationships between scores on compulsive, borderline and histrionic personality disorder scales and the probability of obsessions and com pulsions. These exploratory analyses in an epidemiologic sample may id entify factors of etiologic importance in this condition.