Complexities in Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders

Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders (OCRDs) have received considerable attention over the past two decades culminating with the inclusion of a new classification category of "Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders" (OCRDs) in DSM-5. This group of conditions includes OCD along with two newly minted conditions (Hoarding Disorder and Excoriation Disorder) and others previously classified as Somatoform Disorders (Body Dysmorphic Disorder) and Impulse Control Disorders (Hair Pulling Disorder). The implications for research on these conditions, as well as their relations with one another, are significant since their aggregation is based on putative central mechanisms with limited empirical support to date. Indeed, the past decades have seen a dramatic surge in research on OCRDs. Such scholarship has occurred across several domains including clinical phenomenology, assessment, and psychological therapies. A complete synthesis of the emerging data across these domains would be beyond the scope of a single journal article or series of articles while having the ability to comprehensively discuss advances in the field and stimulating in these areas