Compulsivity and obsessionality in opioid addiction

Seventy-one individuals with opioid dependence undergoing ambulatory treatm ent participated in a personal interview assessing the importance of their opioid-use rituals, the severity of compulsivity and obsessionality in rela tion to their drug use, and the number of obsessive compulsive disorder (OC D) symptoms. The level of compulsivity and obsessionality in opioid depende nce was comparable to that found in OCD and alcohol addiction The importanc e of rituals was inversely related to the number of opioid lapses during re habilitation treatment and positively correlated with the number of non-dru g-related OCD symptoms. Based on established norms for OCD symptoms, we est imated that 11.4% of our sample would meet diagnostic criteria for OCD, a r ate which is over 4 times higher than the rate of OCD in the general popula tion.