Body Image and Somatic Complaints in Patients with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Purpose: We aimed to investigate body satisfaction and somatisation levels in individuals diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Materials and Methods: For this purpose, 84 patients diagnosed with OCD who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were included in our study. Structured Clinical Interview for DSM (SCID-5), Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Scale (Y-BOCS), Body Image Scale (BIS), Bradford Somatic Inventory (BSI-44) were applied to the participants. Results: It was observed that the most common obsession of the participants was contamination, followed by other obsessions group and aggression, respectively. The most common compulsion was controlling compulsion, followed by cleaning and repetitive ritualistic compulsions, respectively. It was determined that the mean score of the participants was 21.7±7.7 points on the Y-BOCS, 137.6±26.3 points on the BIS, and 25.8±17.8 points on the BSI-44, and female scored statistically significantly lower than male on the BIS, while there was no significant difference between male and female in the other scales. It was observed that body image was higher in those with ordering and organising compulsions. Somatisation was found to be higher in those with accumulation, symmetry, somatic and repetitive ritual compulsions. Conclusion: Body image and somatisation level of patients with OCD vary according to both sociodemographic characteristics and types of obsessions and compulsions. Our findings make an important contribution to the very limited literature on this issue.