PubMed · 16772841
Obsessive-compulsive disorder and rectal prolapse.
Abstract
A 47-year-old woman with a long-standing history of obsessive-compulsive disorder relating to dirt and germs is presented. Her fear of developing bowel cancer led her to manually evacuate faeces from her rectum five times a day and to a resultant rectal prolapse. Treatment involved prolonged graduated exposure to the patient's feared contaminants and ritual avoidance. After 5 months of inpatient therapy, the patient reported a subjective 70% improvement in her symptoms. As her obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms improved, the patient's rectal prolapse disappeared.
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Julian B Henry, Lynne M Drummond, Peter Kolb. 2006. Obsessive-compulsive disorder and rectal prolapse.. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.meg.0000223909.08611.af
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