co-morbidity

• co-morbidity refers to the extent to which two or more disorders co-occur at the same time in one individual
• co-morbidity in schizophrenia menas the extent to which other disorders appear alongside shizophrenia
• co-morbidity can affect the validity of the diagnosis as if 2 disorders have a high co-morbidity rate they could be seen as one condition rather than 2 distinct ones
• the incidence for OCD is estimated at 2-3%
• the incidence for schizophrenia is 1%
• The high comorbidity rate given by Buckley (2009) of 23% suggests that the co-occurrence of OCD and schizophrenia is not due to chance.