Studied the phenomenology of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) and their co-occurrence with other psychiatric disorders. Ss were 147 patients with schizophrenia and schizotypal and delusional disorders, 108 patients with mood (affective) disorders, and 105 patients with neurotic, stress-related, and somatoform disorders aged 16 yrs and older in Egypt. 308 normal Ss matched for age, sex, religion, and educational level in Egypt formed the control group. Patients were administered a semistructured psychiatric interview and full mental and neurological examinations. All Ss were administered a sociodemographic data sheet and the Arabic versions of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (W. K. Goodman et al, 1989), the Obsession section of the Present State Examinations (10th version), the 22-item Eysenck Rigidity Scale, and the Religious Orientation Scale (El-Behairy and Demerdash, 1988). The results indicate that OCS were significantly higher in the psychiatric categories than in nonpsychiatric Ss. The data suggest that OCS in psychiatric patients have a distinct phenomenology from OCS in nonpsychiatric Ss. No association was found between OCS and either rigidity or religious orientation.