Much of the research on gender differences in OCD might not reflect our current understanding of the disorder. For example, many of the studies included hoarding symptoms as part of OCD, even though hoarding is now considered a separate condition from OCD. This means that the statistics about how common OCD is and how it differs between men and women might be wrong because they're including hoarding symptoms that aren't actually part of OCD anymore.

Understanding OCD

The different findings might also be because studies use different ways to measure OCD symptoms. Recent research suggests that the best way to measure OCD is to look at how severe each type of symptom is on a scale, rather than just checking whether someone has a symptom or not. But many studies still use the older yes/no approach.

Wesleyan University

Another reason studies have found different results might be that researchers don't all define "mild OCD symptoms" the same way. For example, one study said people had mild symptoms if they had obsessions or compulsions but weren't very distressed or impaired by them. Another study said people had mild symptoms if they had obsessions or compulsions and either felt distressed OR had some impairment. These different definitions might explain why estimates of how common mild symptoms are vary so much more than estimates of full OCD. Since mild OCD symptoms might be a warning sign that someone could develop full OCD later, researchers should agree on a standard definition of mild symptoms. This would help clarify how common they are, whether they affect men and women differently, and what puts someone at risk for developing full OCD. 

Future Directions: Defining OCD

Mathes, B.M., Morabito, D.M. & Schmidt, N.B. Epidemiological and Clinical Gender Differences in OCD. Curr Psychiatry Rep 21, 36 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-019-1015-2

Learn Before

Related

Learn After