Superstitiousness in OCD

It has been speculated that superstitiousness and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) exist along a continuum. The distinction between superstitious behavior and superstitious belief, however, is crucial for any theoretical account of claimed associations between superstitiousness and OCD. By demonstrating that there is a dichotomy between behavior and belief, which is experimentally testable, we can differentiate superstitious behavior from superstitious belief, or magical ideation. Different brain circuits are responsible for these two forms of superstitiousness; thus, determining which type of superstition is prominent in the symptomatology of an individual patient may inform us about the primarily affected neurocognitive systems. Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-35069 Accepted Version Originally published at: Brugger, P; Viaud-Delmon, I (2010). Superstitiousness in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 12(2):250-254. Superstitiousness in OCD 1 Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 12, 250-254 (2010) Superstitiousness in OCD Peter Brugger, PhD. Neuropsychology Unit, Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland Isabelle Viaud-Delmon, PhD. CNRS UMR 9912, IRCAM, 1 place Igor Stravinsky, 75004 Paris, France