Differential Diagnosis & OCD
Differential diagnosis requires distinguishing OCD from other psychiatric disorders. The following psychiatric disorders feature symptoms that may, at first, resemble OCD include the following:
- Major depressive disorder
- Other anxiety disorders
- Eating disorders
- Alcoholism or other substance-related disorders
- Tourette's syndrome
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Specific phobia
- Schizophrenic delusions
All of these conditions are differentiated from OCD by type and severity of symptoms. For example, although schizophrenic delusions may resemble obsessions common in OCD, people experiencing delusions do not have insight into their content. They believe the delusions involve external influence and are not the product of their own mind. Some of these disorders may occur with OCD (see course and prognosis).
