11 Here, only 43.4% of the participants were employed and ~4 out of 5 of those considered themselves impaired in their ability to work. Certainly, these figures are not universally true and are dependent on regional job opportunities and the national unemployment rate, which in several countries of the European Union is markedly higher than in the United States. For example, in a study conducted in the US,6 only 15% of the patients were unemployed due to their psychiatric condition (self-report, entire rate: 22%) which, however, still considerably exceeded the overall unemployment rate of 6% at that time. Risk factors for occupational disability in patients were
the severity of OCD and depression symptoms, as well as lifetime substance abuse.