How Does the Normalization Process After the COVID-19 Pandemic Affect Patients With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder? A Longitudinal Study.

This study aims to investigate the effect of the normalization process after the pandemic on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients. During the pandemic period, the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), Padua Inventory-Washington State University Revision, the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S), and an interview form inquiring sociodemographic characteristics were applied to the participant patients with OCD. During the normalization process, the patients were reevaluated after about 1 year. A significant decrease was found in the patients' FCV-19S and PE-WSUR total scores along with all subscale scores as well as the Y-BOCS scores. The FCV-19S was associated with OCD symptoms both during the pandemic and the normalization period. The final FCV-19S scores of patients with a Y-BOCS score of 12 and under were found to be statistically significantly lower than the others. This study shows that OCD symptom severity and fear of COVID-19 decreased with the normalization process. A decrease in pandemic-related stress and fear of COVID-19 with the normalization process may have positively affected OCD patients.