Impact of Benzodiazepines and Illness Duration on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder during COVID-19 in Italy: Exploring Symptoms' Evolutionary Benefits.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is believed to follow a waxing and waning course, often according to environmental stressors. During the COVID-19 pandemic, pre-existing OCD symptoms were reported to increase and to change from checking to washing behaviors, while new-onset symptoms were predominantly of the hoarding type. In the present study, we followed the evolution of OCD symptoms, anxiety, depression, and insights of illness in forty-six OCD patients throughout the pandemic.

Depression and Anxiety Symptoms "Among the Waves" of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Adjustment Disorder Patients.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated restrictions caused great psychological suffering to the general population and psychiatric patients. We aimed to explore the course of depression and anxiety symptoms in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) patients, adjustment disorder (AD) patients, and participants without psychiatric disorders (control group, CG) across the different phases of the pandemic: the first lockdown, a temporary interruption of restrictions, and the second lockdown. Out of the 158 patients screened, we enrolled 46 OCD and 19 AD patients as well as 29 CG participants.