The Relationship between Obsessions and Compulsions and Negative and Positive Symptoms in Schizophrenia

OBJECTIVE The aim of the present study is to investigate the relationship between obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCSs) and negative and positive symptoms in schizophrenia. METHODS Subjects of the study comprised of 31 schizophrenia with obsessive-compulsive symptoms (19 men and 12 women) selected by convenience sampling method from Iran psychiatric Hospital. The diagnoses were established on the basis of DSM-IV-TR. The required data were obtained using Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive scale (Y-BOC). RESULTS The results of multiple regression analysis indicated that obsessive symptoms inversely predict negative symptoms. In other words, as the obsessive symptoms increase, the negative symptoms of schizophrenia decrease. Nevertheless, no significant relationship was found between OCSs and positive symptoms. CONCLUSION This study reveals that OCSs exert a protective effect on schizophrenia and do not necessarily cause poorer prognosis.