Cognitive Processes and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in Older Adults

Publisher Summary This chapter presents the cognitive process and obsessive compulsive disorder in older adults. The relationship between cognitive processes and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) symptoms in older adults is evaluated. Anxiety disorders generally and OCD specifically occurs frequently in the elderly stage of life. Additional efforts involving the careful characterization of OCD in older adults are needed to determine the frequency of clinical and sub-clinical symptoms in this age group. Refinements in assessment approaches are needed before accurate prevalence estimates of late-life OCD can be obtained. OCD appears to have begun early in life for older adults. For a minority of elderly OCD patients, the disorder may have first appeared after the age of 60. It appears that older adults with OCD present the full range of OCD symptoms. The psychometric properties of OCD related cognition measures, including the instruments being developed by the Obsessive Compulsive Cognitions Working Group, needs to be evaluated with elders as an initial step in the exploration of the cognitive dimensions of OCD in this age group. Older adults with major depression are successfully treated with cognitive therapy procedures adapted for the needs of this age group. This suggests that cognitive therapy procedures designed to alter OCD-related beliefs may be successfully adapted for use with older adults. OCD in older adults is a treatable condition that will be made more understandable following completion of much needed empirical work.