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Screening young people for obsessive–compulsive disorder

South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London

ISOBEL HEYMAN

National Clinic for Young People with OCD, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust and Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London

CATHERINE MORTIMORE

Camden Primary Care Trust, London

IAN FRAMPTON and ROBERT GOODMAN

Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, UK

Correspondence: Dr Isobel Heyman, Department of Child Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK. Tel: +44 (0)20 7740 5222; fax: +44 (0)20 7740 5011; email: i.heyman{at}iop.kcl.ac.uk

Declaration of interest None.

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) in young people is underrecognised and undertreated. Simple screening tools suitable for general practice and community services are needed. We created a seven-item self-report Short OCD Screener (SOCS) and administered itto young people aged 11–15 years, including 116 patients with OCD, 181 healthy community controls and 33 young people with other psychiatric diagnoses. The SOCS has excellent sensitivity of 0.97 (95% CI 0.91–0.98) to detect OCD cases. Its specificity is good in children without psychiatric diagnoses, but low in a psychiatric sample. The SOCS is a screening tool suitable for community but not specialist settings.