Epidemiological and phenomenological data are convergent and emphasize the similarities of obsessive-compulsive features among different cultures and geographic regions (North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia). In the studies reviewed, obsessions and compulsions show to be very similar in their variety and content, regardless sociocultural differences and historical backgrounds. The influence of the culture was observed only circumstantially , for example, when shaping religious and sexual contents. The phenomenological homogeneity of obsessive-compulsive disorder, as a transhistorical and transcultural syndrome, suggests the existence of a setting of nuclear symptoms relatively independent of geographic, ethnic and cultural differences. The importance of biologic evolutionary and ethological studies is emphasized.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder; Culture; Epidemiology