Research paperTreatment outcomes for inpatients with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder: An open comparison trial

•OCPD inpatients present higher levels on PHQ9, GAD7 and DERS than controls.•OCPD inpatients show significant positive change on PHQ9, GAD7 and DERS.•OCPD inpatients have higher rates of anxiety at discharge than inpatient controls.

BackgroundThe current case-control study compared rates of clinically significant and reliable change in psychopathology and global functioning, prevalence of clinical deterioration, and rates of symptom remission among adult patients with obsessive compulsive personality disorder OCPD (n=52) and well-matched inpatients with any other personality disorder (n=56) and no personality disorder (n=53).MethodsPropensity score matching (PSM) was utilized to select patients matched on specific criteria present in the OCPD group. Multivariate analysis of variance models measured differences in admission functioning and RCI change across depression and anxiety severity, emotion dysregulation and suicidal ideation.ResultsPatients diagnosed with OCPD admit to treatment with higher rates of depression, anxiety, difficulty with emotion regulation and non-acceptance of emotional experience than inpatient controls. Furthermore, OCPD patients respond to treatment at a similar rate to inpatient controls, but experience lower rates of anxiety remission upon discharge. Post-hoc analyses indicate individuals meeting stubbornness and rigidity (OCPD Criteria 8) were nine times more likely to report moderate to severe anxiety at point of discharge.LimitationsLimitations include a predominantly Caucasian, inpatient sample, use of self-report measures and a non-manualized treatment approach.ConclusionsOverall, OCPD inpatients benefit from an intensive multimodal psychiatric treatment, but experience more anxiety than non-PD patients upon discharge.