Religious Attitudes in Adolescents with Obsessive Compulsive Symptoms (OCS) and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Background: Obsessive compulsive symptoms are becoming more common in children and adolescents, according to mental health practitioners. Our epidemiology study intends to estimate the prevalence of obsessive symptoms and obsessive compulsive disorder among secondary school students, as well as examine religious attitudes among those patients as a secondary research target.

Materials: The study is cross-sectional and was conducted on 1299 secondary school students, with an adequate sample size estimated based on a literature prevalence of 2% for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Equal samples were taken from each of Alexandria Governorate's three educational zones. Obsessive compulsive symptoms were assessed by the Lyeton obsessive inventory child LOI-CV, the Arabic version that has been validated and tested for reliability in Egyptian culture. Those scoring 35 or above were subjected to the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview for children MINI-KID Arabic.

Patients with OCD had their diagnosis confirmed through a psychiatric interview to ensure that they met the DSM IV –TR criteria for OCD. Religious attitudes were assessed using a validated self-reporting questionnaire.

Results: Among the studied sample (n=1299), 201 students were scored > 35 on LOI-CV i.e. 15.5% of the total sample have OCS The prevalence of OCD among studied sample was 2.2% as 29 students from the OCS students were fulfilling diagnostic criteria for OCD according to DSM-IV TR. Adolescents with obsessive compulsive disorder OCD and obsessive compulsive symptoms OCS had religious practising attitudes of 93.1% and 79.6%, respectively, with no difference (X2=0.07).

Conclusion: Obsessive symptoms are very prevalent among adolescents; this observation emphasises the importance of public awareness and screening of adolescents for early detection and management. The religious attitudes of teenagers with either obsessive compulsive disorder or merely obsessive compulsive symptoms did not differ significantly. Obsessions and compulsions' phenomenology, rather than their prevalence in the population, may be influenced by religious order and upbringing.