Diagnosis and Clinical Characteristics
These are the approved guidelines published by the South African Society of Psychiatrists to provide an overview on treatment and management of commonly diagnosed psychiatric illnesses. The guidelines include consensus recommendations, based on peer contribution and using the international evidence based guidelines that are suitable for the local South African health service.
Please note that parts of this guideline may be out of date, an update will be published as soon as it is available.
Evidence indicates that OCD is commonly under diagnosed and under-treated.[3] There is also the converse possibility that various disorders with intrusive symptoms, such as post-traumatic stress disorder or generalised anxiety disorder, can be misdiagnosed as OCD. Diagnostic criteria for OCD are provided in Table 1 below.[4]