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The Clinical Presentation of Major Depressive Disorder in Youth with Co-Occurring Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Research Publication Document

  • List Description

    Strouphauer, E., Valenzuela-Flores, C., Minhajuddin, A., Slater, H., Riddle, D. B., Pinciotti, C. M., Guzick, A. G., Hettema, J. M., Tonarelli, S., Soutullo, C. A., Elmore, J. S., Gushanas, K., Wakefield, S., Goodman, W. K., Trivedi, M. H., Storch, E. A., & Cervin, M. (2024). The clinical presentation of major depressive disorder in youth with co-occurring obsessive-compulsive disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 349, 349–357. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2024.01.070

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    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2024.01.070
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Youth with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) often also struggle with comorbid major depressive disorder (MDD), however, it is unclear if the OCD symptoms impact the intensity of their depression. In this study, the depression severity of participants (measured by PHQ-A) with comorbid OCD and MDD was compared to those with MDD but no OCD. The statistical analyses revealed that the youth with a combination of MDD and OCD had more severe MDD and more of them dealt with moderate to severe depression (75%) compared to their MDD-only counterparts (61%). Additionally, those with comorbid OCD also reported lower levels of anhedonia (loss of pleasure from things one used to enjoy) and more severe psychomotor issues. These findings point to the unique combination of symptoms in youth with comorbid mental health disorders, stressing the importance of accounting for these comorbidities when approaching symptom monitoring and treatment.

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