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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 November 2014
This manuscript summarizes the presentations of an international panel of experts, representing France, Hungary, India, South Africa, and the United States, on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). OCD is culturally universal but probably heterogeneous. New data presented concern a follow-up study from a joint Yale-Brown clinical project; a prevalence study in Hungary; a molecular genetics study from South Africa; a comorbidity study from India; a clinical study from Paris comparing OCD with subclinical OCD; a discussion of compulsive buying as a cross-cultural phenomenon; and survey results showing the impact of OCD on quality of life and economic variables. A roundtable discussion led to a consensus that researchers must continue to: (1) investigate the prevalence of OCD in non Western samples and in less developed countries; (2) collect clinical data on OCD in child and adolescent samples, as well as in off-spring of adults with OCD; (3) refine the concept of age of onset; (4) study the impact of OCD on quality of life and the economy; (5) investigate the validity of the obsessive-compulsive spectrum in epidemiologic and clinical samples and develop appropriate instruments for its assessment; (6) study personality disorder and how it affects treatment response, and examine its prevalence in epidemiologic samples; (7) explore the concept of OCD heterogeneity, which may reflect differing etiologies but may also suggest differential treatment strategies; (8) conduct follow-up studies, particularly now that effective treatments may alter course of illness; and, finally, (9) investigate treatment response and whether certain subtypes demand unique approaches.