People with Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) often seek to maintain control over their world through rules, procedures, and perfectionism. Though attention to detail and following rules are often seen as a positive, OCPD takes it to an extreme where the patient is so fixated on making sure they’re following the rules that the original point of an activity is lost. With such a high dedication to their work as well as an inflexible attitude towards morality and rules, people who suffer from OCPD may have issues maintaining interpersonal relationships. For someone with OCPD, it is through these rules and dedication to perfection that they maintain a sense of control over their world. Due to this desire to feel control, they are often unwilling to delegate tasks due to the belief that the other person won’t do them up to the standard the person with OCPD believes they should be done. While some of the symptoms tend to be stable and persistent such as the perfectionism, others such as the devotion to productivity are more likely to change over time. People who suffer from OCPD suffer from four or more of the following symptoms.
- Preoccupied with details, lists, rules, order, etc to the extent that the major point of the activity is lost.
- Shows perfectionism that interferes with completing the task
- Excessively devoted to work and productivity to the exclusion of friendship and leisure activities.
- Overconscientious, inflexible, and scrupulous about matters of ethics, values, or morality.
- Unable to discard worn-out or worthless objects even when they have no sentimental value.
- Reluctant to delegate tasks or work to others unless the task is done exactly how they want.
- Adopts a miserly spending style towards self and others, hoarding money for future catastrophes.
- Shows rigidity and stubbornness.
While at first glance the two disorders may seem very similar, OCPD shouldn’t be confused with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). While some studies have shown a high comorbidity between the two disorders, others have shown a low comorbidity between the two so the exact relationship between the two is still unknown. The major difference between the two is that OCD has the presence of compulsions and obsessions whereas OCPD is characterized by a preoccupation with perfectionism, orderliness, and both mental and interpersonal control. While someone with OCPD can develop OCD, unlike the latter, OCPD doesn’t have the persistent thoughts or urges that can result in repetitive behaviors in order to suppress those intrusive thoughts. In general, people who suffer from OCPD are very likely to also suffer from autism spectrum disorder (ASD), eating disorders, or substance abuse disorders.
Diagnosed twice as often in men than in women, OCPD is one of the most prevalent personality disorders and is estimated to affect between 2.1% to 7.9% of the population. OCPD is thought to be caused by a combination of both environmental and genetic factors. Studies have shown clear evidence that OCPD can be inherited, though only a few studies have been done on the exact genes that cause the disorder. Other studies have shown a connection between attachment theory and patients developing OCPD. In these studies, patients who have overbearing parents were unable to develop emotionally and empathetically and had overbearing parents were never able to develop a secure attachment style and were more likely to develop the disorder as a result. Children who have a secure attachment style feel protected by their caregivers, showing distress when the caregiver initially leaves but quickly calming as they trust the caregiver to return. Due to this lack of secure attachment style, people with OCPD may have developed the disorder to try and maintain control of the world around them to feel safer.
The most common form of treatment for people suffering from OCPD is either cognitive therapy (CT) or cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Both focus on the idea that feelings, thoughts, and behavior are all connected and treatment focuses on realigning thoughts to help lessen a patient’s symptoms. OCPD-specific treatment has been shown to improve personality impairment and reduce anxiety and depression that so often go hand and hand with the disorder. Group CBT therapy has also been shown to help reduce OCPD symptoms as a patient learns how to better relax around others and not fixate on work or perfectionism. Psychotherapy, or talk therapy, has also been shown to be extremely efficient in reducing depressive symptoms in people who suffer from OCPD. Each patient is different, so if one type of therapy doesn’t seem to be working for you or your loved one it’s alright to try another type of therapy. With all types of therapy though, results can take time, so stick with it to form habits that will help lessen symptoms and improve your quality of life.
