Introduction:Although obsessions and compulsions comprise the main features of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), many patients report that their compulsions are preceded by a sense of “incompleteness” or other unpleasant feelings such as premonitory urges or a need perform actions until feeling “just right.” These manifestations have been characterized as Sensory Phenomena (SP). The current study presents initial psychometric data for a new scale designed to measure SP.Methods:Seventy-six adult OCD subjects were probed twice. Patients were assessed with an open clinical interview (considered as the “gold standard”) and with the following standardized instruments: Structured Clinical Interview forDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition Axis I Disorders, Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, Dimensional Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, Yale Global Tic Severity Scale, Beck Anxiety Inventory, and Beck Depression Inventory.Results:SP were present in 51 OCD patients (67.1%). Tics were present in 16 (21.1%) of the overall sample. The presence of SP was significantly higher in early-onset OCD patients. There were no significant differences in the presence of SP according to comorbidity with tics or gender. The comparison between the results from the open clinical interviews and the University of São Paulo Sensory Phenomena Scale (USP-SPS) showed an excellent concordance between them, with no significant differences between interviewers. The inter-rater reliability between the expert raters for the USP-SPS was high, with K=.92. The Pearson correlation coefficient between the SP severity scores given by the two raters was .89.Conclusion:Preliminary results suggest that the USP-SPS is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing the presence and severity of SP in OCD subjects.

Background The purpose of this study was to investigate demographic and clinical factors associated with the long‐term outcome of obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD). Methods A hundred ninety‐six previously untreated patients with DSM‐IV criteria OCD completed a 12‐week randomized open trial of group cognitive‐behavioral therapy (GCBT) or fluoxetine, followed by 21 months of individualized, uncontrolled treatment, according to international guidelines for OCD treatment. OCD severity was assessed using the Yale–Brown Obsessive‐Compulsive Scale (Y‐BOCS) at different times over the follow‐up period. Demographics and several clinical variables were assessed at baseline. Results Fifty percent of subjects improved at least 35% from baseline, and 21.3% responded fully (final Y‐BOCS score < or = 8). Worse prognosis was associated with earlier age at onset of OCD (P = 0.045), longer duration of illness (P = 0.001) presence of at least one comorbid psychiatric disorder (P = 0.001), comorbidity with a mood disorder (P = 0.002), higher baseline Beck‐Depression scores (P = 0.011), positive family history of tics (P = 0.008), and positive family history of anxiety disorders (P = 0.008). Type of initial treatment was not associated with long‐term outcome. After correction for multiple testing, the presence of at least one comorbid disorder, the presence of a depressive disorder, and duration of OCD remained significant. Conclusions Patients under cognitive‐behavioral or pharmacological treatment improved continuously in the long run, regardless of initial treatment modality or degree of early response, suggesting that OCD patients benefit from continuous treatment. Psychiatric comorbidity, especially depressive disorders, may impair the long‐term outcome of OCD patients.