Who Gets OCD?

OCD can start at any time from preschool to adulthood.

Although OCD can occur at any age, most adults with OCD experienced their first symptoms during childhood or adolescence. [1].  There are generally two age ranges [2], [3] when OCD tends to first appear:

  • Between ages 7 and 12. [4]
  • Between the late teen years and early adulthood (around age 20). [5], [6]

It is estimated that around 1 in 100 kids and teens have OCD. [7], [8] This is about the same number of autistic youth globally. [9]

On average, children and teens struggle with their OCD symptoms for 2.5 years before being assessed by a mental health professional. [10] 

One study found a gap of 1.5 years between diagnosis and first treatment in youth with OCD. [11]

Sources:

  • [1] Millet, B., Kochman, F., Gallarda, T., Krebs, M. O., Demonfaucon, F., Barrot, I., ... & Hantouche, E. G. (2004). Phenomenological and comorbid features associated in obsessive–compulsive disorder: influence of age of onset. Journal of affective disorders, 79(1-3), 241-246. ↩
  • [2] Ruscio, A. M., Stein, D. J., Chiu, W. T., & Kessler, R. C. (2010). The epidemiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Molecular psychiatry, 15(1), 53. ↩
  • [3] Geller, D. A., Homayoun, S., & Johnson, G. (2021). Developmental Considerations in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Comparing Pediatric and Adult-Onset Cases. Frontiers in psychiatry, 12, 678538. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.678538 ↩
  • [4] Geller, D. A., Homayoun, S., & Johnson, G. (2021). Developmental Considerations in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Comparing Pediatric and Adult-Onset Cases. Frontiers in psychiatry, 12, 678538. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.678538 ↩
  • [5] Geller, D. A., Homayoun, S., & Johnson, G. (2021). Developmental Considerations in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Comparing Pediatric and Adult-Onset Cases. Frontiers in psychiatry, 12, 678538. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.678538 ↩
  • [6] Anholt, G. E., Aderka, I. M., van Balkom, A. J., Smit, J. H., Schruers, K., van der Wee, N. J., Eikelenboom, M., De Luca, V., & van Oppen, P. (2014). Age of onset in obsessive-compulsive disorder: admixture analysis with a large sample. Psychological medicine, 44(1), 185–194. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291713000470 ↩
  • [7] Geller, D. A., Homayoun, S., & Johnson, G. (2021). Developmental Considerations in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Comparing Pediatric and Adult-Onset Cases. Frontiers in psychiatry, 12, 678538. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.678538 ↩
  • [8] Browne, H. A., Hansen, S. N., Buxbaum, J. D., Gair, S. L., Nissen, J. B., Nikolajsen, K. H., Schendel, D. E., Reichenberg, A., Parner, E. T., & Grice, D. E. (2015). Familial clustering of tic disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder. JAMA psychiatry, 72(4), 359–366. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2014.2656 ↩
  • [9] Zeidan, J., Fombonne, E., Scorah, J., Ibrahim, A., Durkin, M. S., Saxena, S., Yusuf, A., Shih, A., & Elsabbagh, M. (2022). Global prevalence of autism: A systematic review update. Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 15(5), 778–790. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2696 ↩
  • [10] Geller, D., Biederman, J., Jones, J., Park, K., Schwartz, S., Shapiro, S., & Coffey, B. (1998). Is juvenile obsessive‐compulsive disorder a developmental subtype of the disorder? A review of the pediatric literature. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 37(4), 420-427. ↩
  • [11] Mancebo, M. C., Boisseau, C. L., Garnaat, S. L., Eisen, J. L., Greenberg, B. D., Sibrava, N. J., Stout, R. L., & Rasmussen, S. A. (2014). Long-term course of pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder: 3 years of prospective follow-up. Comprehensive psychiatry, 55(7), 1498–1504. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2014.04.010 ↩