RESUMO
A number of recent case reports and series indicate that obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) can develop after traumatic experience as a comorbid conditon to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These descriptive studies consistently addressed that those patients respond poorly to treatments and had an unfavorable outcome. However, this conclusion was not supported by prospective follow up with objective measurement of symptomatology. This report presents three single trauma-related PTSD patients who developed full-blown OCD concurrently with or after the initiation of PTSD. These patients represent 10% of new PTSD outpatients at a PTSD clinic during one year period and 25% of PTSD patients who had been admitted. In all three cases compulsion seemed to distract or serve as avoidance to intrusive symptoms of PTSD. Despite Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and/or exposure therapy for PTSD together with at least two antidepressant trials for PTSD and OCD, at six month follow-up PTSD partially improved and OCD remained unchanged. This finding is consistent with previous reports from western literature.