Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder with Religious Focus: A Observational Study

(1) Background: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a psychiatric disorder with poorly detailed subtypes/dimensions, such as religious OCD (ROCD). To date, little is known about ROCD characteristics. This work aimed to describe the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, as well as the religiosity and spirituality among Lebanese Muslim citizens diagnosed with OCD and exhibiting religious symptoms. (2) Methods: Outpatients were enrolled according to the following inclusion criteria: 18 years of age or above, diagnosis of OCD, presence of religious symptoms, and ability to read and understand the questionnaire. Exclusion criteria were as follows: other psychiatric disorders, and cognitive or physical impairments preventing participation. They filled in a questionnaire including the 25-item Arabic Scale of Obsessions and Compulsions (10 questions addressing obsessions, 10 questions addressing compulsions and five filler items, all of which rated on a 4–point Likert scale; higher total scores indicating increasing severity), the 26-item Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale (rated on a 5-point Likert scale; higher scores indicating higher spirituality), and questions assessing the sociodemographic, clinical, and religiosity variables. (3) Results: Fifty adults (62% females, 52% aged between 18-29 years) completed the study. They had mild (26%), moderate (48%) and severe (26%) OCD symptoms. The majority had a family history of psychiatric disorders (48% OCD) and reported traumatic life events (58%). The majority attended religious school at least at one point in their life and described moderate to very high degree of self-religiosity and parental religiosity. Group comparisons (patients with mild vs. moderate vs. severe OCD symptoms) showed significant differences with regards to family history of psychiatric disorders (p=0.043), frequency of self-questioning if praying correctly (p=0.005), higher rating of partial ablution repetition (p=0.006), and frequency of partial ablution repetitions (p=0.041). No significant groups differences were noted with regards to sociodemographic or spirituality outcomes (4) Conclusion: Some religiosity variables (thoughts and practices) seem to be associated with OCD severity. The current results support the need for further research pertaining to ROCD.