The comorbidity of bipolar affective disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder is an important, although relatively unusual in community mental health teams. Patients with comorbid bipolar conditioning affective and obsessive-compulsive disorders appear to require a greater number of outpatient appointments, have a greater number of hospital admissions and also to be more likely to require a care coordinator and to require psychological input than those with OCD alone. They also appear likely to be more difficult to treat and to carry more risk factors than patients with OCD alone.
Keywords: obsessive compulsive disorder, OCD, bipolar affective disorder, comorbidity