American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer denied bail after being charged with killing Canadian couple
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
Some people with obsessive compulsive disorder may actually experience improvement in symptoms during the pandemic, a small new study out of Belgium finds.
The study, published in Psychiatric Quarterly, looked at how symptoms in people with OCD before March 2020 compared to the start of the COVID-19 crisis, to determine how the pandemic impacted obsessive compulsive behaviours.
Researchers interviewed 49 OCD patients and 26 family members to assess OCD symptom severity, family accommodation, depressive symptoms, specific stress related to the pandemic and stress related to the “waxing and waning” pattern of the pandemic.
The study found that for most of the OCD patients interviewed, symptoms increased at the start of the pandemic and during the first lockdown in Belgium in March 2020, they improved as the pandemic progressed.
Researchers predicted that the slight improvement in OCD symptoms was the result of a number of factors, including feeling safer because other people were practising better hygiene, increased time spent alone and away from OCD triggers, and more free time to develop insight into compulsions and view them as less threatening or serious.
However, the study also found that patients who had increased family accommodation, which involves family members removing triggers, reassuring obsessive habits and taking over, showed increased levels of OCD symptoms.
Family accommodations are widely viewed by researchers as a factor in increasing OCD symptoms and preventing people with OCD from dealing with their behaviour.
Researchers predict that increased stress amongst family members, more time spent at home, and increasing feelings of responsibility towards family members with OCD, have all grown in response to the pandemic thus resulting in more family accommodation and worse OCD symptoms.
However, despite a decrease in OCD symptoms such as habitual actions, the study found that rates of depression, anxiety and stress amongst OCD patients increased across the board during the pandemic.
Other research has shown that despite original beliefs that OCD patients would experience significant increases in symptoms, some people haven't experienced any changes in thier behaviour since the start of the pandemic.
One study found that while some people experienced worsened OCD symptoms during the pandemic, their triggers were not associated with contamination or fear of illness, rather stress and anxiety which often cause obsessive compulsive behaviours.
However, Dr. Evelyn Stewart, a Canadian psychiatrist and professor at the University of British Columbia, who wasn’t involved in the Belgium study, is worried that the improvement some OCD patients have experienced may offer false hope.
“The part that I am concerned about is that it might actually appear like OCD is improving for a number of individuals but that's not actually true,” says Stewart in an interview with CTV News. “All of a sudden with COVID, it is totally valid and appropriate to be doing a lot of double checking, to be doing extra washing, to actually not go places or be in contact with people if you have concerns about the possibility of contamination, but as things go back to the new normal, whatever it’s going to be, it’s going to be really challenging for individuals with OCD who have contamination worries to go back to the pre-COVID norm and to be able to accept the little bit of risk that’s there.”
Similar to the study’s conclusions, Stewart says that improvement in OCD patients’ symptoms is likely the result of more time spent in isolation, feelings of validation towards washing and hygiene practices and feelings of relief that they no longer need to explain their behaviour.
Stewart says that OCD is focused on certainty and the ability to feel like you’ve done everything you can to keep yourself safe. With access to vaccines and lockdowns ending, Stewart says that feelings of uncertainty will occur and obsessive compulsive behaviours may return.
There is also concern, Stewart says, that OCD cases will increase after the pandemic is over, as the result of habitual washing practices and increased anxiety and fear towards illness and contamination.
Stewart’s lab has been conducting an ongoing study that has involved over 2,500 respondents and asks participants questions related to OCD tendencies and their implications. The study found that 15 to 17 per cent of respondents reported symptoms related to OCD.
In the general population, OCD typically appears at a rate of between one to two per cent of people.
“I suspect as we return whatever post-COVID life will be, there will be many news cases that will be identified,” says Stewart. “While there may have been some cases that improved during COVID, there may be new onset cases.”
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
Cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc says he plans to run in the next election as a candidate under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's leadership, amid questions about his rumoured interest in succeeding his longtime friend for the top job.
A male columnist has apologized for a cringeworthy moment during former University of Iowa superstar and college basketball's highest scorer Caitlin Clark's first news conference as an Indiana Fever player.
The judge presiding over the trial of a man accused of fatally running over a Toronto police officer is telling jurors the possible verdicts they may reach based on the evidence in the case.
Nearly half of China's major cities are suffering 'moderate to severe' levels of subsidence, putting millions at risk of flooding especially as sea levels rise.
Health Canada will change its longstanding policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned. The federal health agency has adopted a revised directive removing the ban on gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, effective May 8.
Prince Harry, the son of King Charles III and fifth in line to the British throne, has formally confirmed he is now a U.S. resident.
The United States has vetoed a widely backed UN resolution that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for the state of Palestine.
Sophie Kinsella, the best-selling author behind the 'Shopaholic' book series, has revealed that she is receiving treatment for brain cancer.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.
While many people choose to keep their medical appointments private, four longtime friends decided to undergo vasectomies as a group in B.C.'s Lower Mainland.