OBJECTIVE: The obsessive-compulsive disorder causes significant impact on the family function, leading to changes in the routine of the family, which adapt itself according to the symptoms and the requirements of the patient, a family phenomenon known as accommodation. OCD patients may be still subject to criticism by those of its relationships. Some studies evince worse prognosis related to higher rates of family accommodation and perceived criticism. This paper aims to determine possible associations between types of predominant symptoms (dimensions determined by the scale DYBOCS) and the family accommodation and critical perception of the patients. METHOD: Forty-nine patients and their relatives were evaluated by the Perceived Criticism Scale, Family Accommodation Scale, the Dimensional Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale and the Hamilton and Beck depression and anxiety scales. RESULTS: There was significant statistical correlation between severities of the aggressive and contamination/ cleaning dimensions with higher family accommodation. There was also a higher perceived criticism for patients with hoarding. CONCLUSION: Different contents of obsessive-compulsive symptoms perform different patterns of influence in the family context. These results remain more speculation and studies with proper designs and sample size must be conducted.
Obsessive compulsive disorder; family accommodation; perceived criticism
