Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder with Suicide Obsessions Triggered by News Reports about the “Blue Whale Game”

Title:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder with Suicide Obsessions Triggered by News Reports about the “Blue Whale Game”

Volume: 8 Issue: 3

Author(s): N.A. Uvais*

Affiliation:

• Department of Psychiatry, Iqraa International Hospital and Research Centre, Calicut, Kerala,India

Keywords: OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder, phenomenology, external events, child and adolescence.

Abstract: Background: Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a relatively common psychiatric disorder among children and adolescents. Apart from the commonly reported obsessions, childhood OCD can present with unusual or unfamiliar obsessions, making the diagnosis difficult. Suicidal ideas and attempts are high in OCD patients. Very rarely OCD patients also present with suicidal obsessions which need to be differentiated from a genuine suicidal desire for proper management.

Methods: We report an uncommon suicidal obsessional fear triggered by “Blue Whale Game” related news in the media in a 14-year-old boy who had been previously well functioning. This patient experienced significant distress and dysfunction due to these repetitive thoughts. After an intervention with medication, his symptoms diminished and he returned to pre-morbid functioning.

Discussion: Environmental stressors are considered to play an important role in the development of OCD. Environment interacts with genetic predisposition, which moderates the vulnerability to a stressful experience, in precipitating OCD. This case is unusual in that suicidal obsessions were triggered by an external event, highlighting the interaction between external events and the onset of the obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Cite this article as:

Uvais N.A.*, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder with Suicide Obsessions Triggered by News Reports about the “Blue Whale Game”, Adolescent Psychiatry 2018; 8 (3) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/2210676608666180820152633