AUTHOR’S QUESTIONNAIRE FOR DIAGNOSING OBSESSIVE – COMPULSIVE DISORDER (OCD) IN ADOLESCENTS

Аннотация

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a serious psychological disorder characterized by obsessive thoughts and repetitive actions. In the teenage years, OCD can have a significant impact on emotional state, behavior and social adaptation. Key words: obsessive-compulsive disorder, behavior, mental, neurosis, compulsion, symptoms, questionnaires, psychological disorders, special program, adaptation. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (obsessive-compulsive disorder) is a special form of mental neurosis, which is characterized by the presence of obsessive thoughts and actions. The obsession syndrome, which prevails in thoughts, feelings, actions, occurs involuntarily, but is fully recognized by him as a painful phenomenon. A person understands the absurdity, unnaturalness and illogicality of these neurotic obsessive manifestations, but cannot get rid of them. Most often, the disease is diagnosed in childhood and adolescence. A large percentage of cases also occur in people under 30 years of age. The gender distribution of patients is approximately equal: men and women are equally susceptible to the disease. Obsessive-compulsive disorder in children under 6 years of age often manifests itself in the form of fears (phobias). Obsessive-compulsive disorder in children of primary school age is expressed in the form of compulsions (obsessive actions). Obsessive-compulsive disorder in adolescents usually occurs in the form of obsessions (obsessive ideas, thoughts). The severity of obsessive-compulsive disorder in adolescents is determined by the duration of time within a day when the child is in a state of obsessive thoughts and actions. The prevalence of OCD as a mental disorder in children and adults is not related to the social status of patients. However, a greater number of cases of the disease are diagnosed among people with average and high incomes. Diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder in adolescents is complicated by the fact that this disease has similar features with other pathological processes, in particular with schizophrenia. Therefore, only a specialist in a specialized medical clinic can make an accurate diagnosis. When diagnosing OCD in an adolescent, it is necessary to exclude sluggish schizophrenia, the symptoms of which have similar features: scarcity of emotional manifestations, inconsistency and illogicality of thoughts and actions, the presence of ritualistic actions. Paroxysmal schizophrenia has common features with OCD, but unlike obsessive disorders, anxiety is more pronounced, obsessive thoughts and actions acquire a different scale. So for diagnosing obsessive – compulsive disorder we have made special program which can help to find out the early symptoms of obsessive – compulsive disorder. The aim is development and practical application of comprehensive tools to identify obsessive-compulsive manifestations in adolescents, identify the manifestations of their symptoms, and differentiate obsessive-compulsive disorder from other disorders. The methodology is based on the cognitive-behavioral model of OCD (Salkovskis, 1999), modern neurobiological theories (Fineberg et al., 2020), and empirical evidence on adolescent 62 psychopathology (Mataix-Cols et al., 2016). It includes items from standardized questionnaires adapted for adolescence, as well as original questions aimed at identifying individual characteristics of obsessions and compulsions. The methodology includes three blocks: diagnostic survey, analysis of cognitive strategies, and assessment of the impact of symptoms on daily life. This questionnaire consists of 15 questions aimed at identifying the main manifestations of obsessive-compulsive disorders in adolescents. Rate the questions on a scale from 0 to 4.  0 – never  1 – Rarely  2 – Sometimes  3 – Often  4 – always In addition to the diagnostic questionnaire, adolescents are assessed for their anxiety coping strategies: Each respondent assesses the degree of impact of OCD symptoms on various areas of life (school, family, friendships, leisure) on a 5-point scale. The results can be defined the following: If the respondent gets 0-5 points - absence of clinically significant symptoms of OCD. 6-15 points - presence of subclinical obsessive-compulsive features. 16-30 points - moderately severe OCD, requiring psychocorrection work. 31 or more points - high severity of symptoms, need for specialized psychiatric care. The methodology is intended for use in schools, psychological counseling centers and clinics for the early diagnosis and prevention of OCD in adolescents. It can be used in conjunction with clinical interviews and neuropsychological tests. In conclusion we can say the developed method allows for the effective diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder in adolescents, the analysis of its manifestations and the development of individual correction strategies. Diagnosing obsessive – compulsive disorder at the beginning is important because it can cause more terrifying