Life-threatening obsessive–compulsive disorder precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic in an adolescent

Abstract

Summary The COVID-19 pandemic starting in 2020 has had massive mental health consequences worldwide. It has caused generalised fear and anxiety about catching, spreading and suffering from the virus. This article describes a fictionalised patient's presentation of life-threatening obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) associated with fears of catching COVID-19. The fears resulted in refusal to eat and drink, with subsequent weight loss that required paediatric admission. The scenario portrays the association between COVID-19 and life-threatening OCD symptoms and goes on to illustrate the patient's good response to standard OCD treatments.

Investigating the Relationships between Obsessive Compulsive Symptoms (OCS) and Depression Symptoms and Intolerance of Uncertainty in Turkish Adolescents during Covid-19

“…It is noteworthy that the definitions regarding the symptoms of OCD mentioned above and the behaviours that occur and are frequently observed during the pandemic are similar. Emphasis on hand hygiene and social distancing to protect against the virus seems to have similar content with the individuals' responses exhibiting compulsive cleaning and controlling behaviours (Jayakumar et al, 2022;Jassi et al, 2020). As a matter of fact, the mentioned rules, such as hand hygiene and social distancing, can increase the severity of symptoms in people with OCD and they can also trigger OCD symptoms (Rajkumar, 2020;Jassi et al, 2020).…”