• A survey of women's knowledge and attitudes about obsessive-compulsive disorders
  • fatemeh emamverdian,1 zahra hosienzade,2,*
    1. Tabriz University of Medical Sciences
    2. Tabriz University of Medical Sciences


  • Introduction: Obsession is an idea or a repetitive movement that is accompanied by a feeling of inevitability of the mind and a desire to resist it. Studies have shown that, Mental disorders are equal in men and women, but obsessions, especially Germaphobia, are more common in women. Many people are affected by this disorder for years without realizing it. The present study examines the level of women's awareness of obsession.
  • Methods: This study was descriptive accompanied by questionnaires. The sample of this study included 200 women in the 20 to 35 age group who were randomly selected. Individuals were asked to answer a questionnaire containing 4 questions about their awareness of obsessive-compulsive disorder. At the end of sampling, the results were analyzed.
  • Results: The results of the evaluation of questionnaires related to women's awareness of obsessive-compulsive disorder show that 67.5% of the samples do not accept obsessive-compulsive disorder as a mental disorder and consider it as a normal behavior. Also, 60.42% of people are not Aware of the dimensions of this disorder and 70.83% have suffered from obsessive thoughts of themselves or their relatives and finally 72.91% of the samples want to learn and teach the dimensions and principles of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
  • Conclusion: According to research, a large percentage of women do not consider obsessive-compulsive disorder as a mental disorder and are not aware of obsessive-compulsive disorder, and they have also suffered from obsessive thoughts about themselves and their families. Given that obsession is one of the disorders whose treatment is based on the acceptance of the disease, the need for awareness and acceptance by the individual and those around is quite obvious; Therefore, the isolation of the obsessive person in the community and family can be prevented by careful and purposeful planning to provide education and break the obsession taboo in society and also to state that obsession is treatable.
  • Keywords: Women's mental health, obsessive-compulsive disorder, women's attitudes toward obsessive-compulsive