Co-morbidity of bipolar affective disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder in a Bedford community psychiatry team.

This is a study of the prevalence and impact of co-existing bipolar affective disorder on patients with OCD, and the effect on their management within a community psychiatric team. We found that 16% of patients who visited psychiatric outpatients with a diagnosis of OCD had co-existing bipolar affective disorder. Of these the majority had bipolar affective disorder II (67%). Co-morbidity raised a number of challenges to patient management. Compared to the control group the patients with co-morbid bipolar affective disorder required a greater number of outpatients appointments, had a greater number of hospital admissions, were more likely to have been allocated a care coordinator and to have received psychological input.