Stress, Trauma, and Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders

Abstract

Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders (OCRDs) represent a newly defined category of disorders that include obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), hoarding disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, trichotillomania, and skin-picking disorder. Many environmental factors can influence the etiology and expression of obsessive-compulsive symptoms and OCD, such as exposure to environmental stressors, including traumatic and other life stressors. Stressors include incidents and experiences that disrupt a person’s homeostatic state and can range from mild acute stressors to traumatic stressors. Although all stressors are inherently stressful, most of them are not traumatic in nature. Although multiple researchers have reviewed the contributions of stress and trauma on OCD, currently no reviews exist that consider the associations among stress, trauma, and the other putative OCRDs. This chapter reviews the extant literature on the associations among OCRDs and stress, trauma, and posttraumatic stress disorder and discusses how these factors may influence the incidence, etiology, expression, and treatment of OCRDs.