Limit news exposure
A central component of managing OCD during the pandemic is providing “balanced information” about the known risks and impact of COVID-19, the authors stated.
Dr. Van Ameringen recounted that he has seen patients who have washed their hands for hours and bleached or even boiled their hands.
“Some [patients with OCD] wonder if it’s safe to touch a newspaper or if they can catch the virus if they go outside, even if no one is around,” he reported. “Some wonder if they should ‘quarantine’ a package or wear gloves to bed.”
It has been helpful, for example, to show them the public health guidance of the WHO or CDC advising that 20 seconds of hand washing is adequate, he said.
“We have also seen that some of the sources of information about COVID-19 haven’t been factually correct and that people were watching the news all day and being bombarded with information from every source, which was making their symptoms a thousand times worse,” Dr. Van Ameringen reported.
Therefore, The authors also advise clinicians to “take a compassionate, calming,” and culturally sensitive approach to inform all interventions.
Unique anchor
Commenting on the statement in an interview, Debanjan Banerjee, MD, geriatric psychiatry senior resident, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India, said that this “comprehensive guideline, based on expert experience, will serve as a guiding framework for physicians and psychiatrists globally.”
In the “absence of systemic data so far, this guideline can provide a unique anchor of a global consensus on how to take care of those with preexisting OCD or newly emergent cases” said Dr. Banerjee, who was not involved in authoring the statement.
Also commenting on the statement, Jonathan Abramowitz, PhD, professor of psychology and neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said that he “generally agrees” with these guidelines but disagrees with the “apparent recommendations to scale back” ERP.
“The fact is that effective and safe ERP is possible, even during this time, even following the scientific guidance,” stated Dr. Abramowitz, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders. He was not involved in the statement.
He noted that the International OCD Foundation offers educational programs for clinicians regarding the safe use of ERP during this time.
The authors acknowledge that their guideline is “largely based on empirical evidence” and should be regarded as “preliminary.” The guidance “will be updated as new information arises.”
No specific source of funding for the statement is listed. Dr. Van Ameringen reports being on the advisory boards of Allergan, Almatica, Brainsway, Janssen, Lundbeck, Myriad Neuroscience, Otsuka, and Purdue Pharma (Canada); is on the speakers bureau for Allergan, Lundbeck, Otsuka, Pfizer, Purdue Pharma (Canada) and Takeda; and has received research support from Janssen, Purdue Pharma (Canada), the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and Hamilton Academic Health Sciences Organization. The other authors’ disclosures are listed on the original paper. Dr. Banerjee and Dr. Abramowitz have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
A version of this article originally appeared on Medscape.com.