Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients show hyperactive performance monitoring when monitoring their own actions. Hyperactive performance monitoring is related to OCD symptomatology, like the unflexibility of compulsive behaviors, and was suggested as a potential endophenotype for the disorder. However, thus far the functioning of the performance monitoring system in OCD remains unclear i...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence for the relationship between personality disorders (PDs), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and other anxiety disorders different from OCD (non-OCD) symptomatology. METHOD The sample consisted of a group of 122 individuals divided into three groups (41 OCD; 40 non-OCD, and 41 controls) matched by sex, age, and educational level. Al...

The serotonergic system and the orbitofrontal cortex have been consistently implicated in the pathophysiology of obsessive compulsive disorder. Yet, the relations between these two systems and the ways they interact in producing obsessions and compulsions are poorly understood. The present study tested the hypothesis that pathology of the orbitofrontal cortex leads to a dysregulation of the ser...

Analogue samples are often used to study obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms and related phenomena. This approach is based on the hypothesis that results derived from such samples are relevant to understanding OC symptoms in individuals with a diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Two decades ago, Gibbs (1996) reviewed the available literature and found initial support for this hypot...

Childhood-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) affects 1%-2% of children and adolescents. It is characterized by recurrent obsessions and compulsions that create distress and interfere with daily life. The symptoms reported by children are similar to those seen among individuals who develop OCD in adulthood, and the two groups of patients are treated with similar symptom-relieving behavior...

Some but not all models of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) emphasize the role of dysfunctional beliefs in the etiology and maintenance of this disorder. Clinical observations suggest that some OCD patients have prominent dysfunctional beliefs associated with their obsessions and compulsions, while other patients do not show this pattern. It is possible that dysfunctional beliefs play a role...

The purpose of this study was to examine whether individuals diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) with primary checking compulsions report higher levels of trait anger and anger expression compared with a student control group, and whether trait anger and anger expression are correlated with specific beliefs and interpretations that are common among individuals who compulsively ch...

Research findings on the specific relationships between beliefs and OCD symptoms have been inconsistent, yet the existing studies vary in their approach to measuring the highly heterogeneous symptoms of this disorder. The Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (DOCS) is a new measure that allows for the assessment of OCD symptom dimensions, rather than types of obsessions and compulsions per se...

About a quarter of a century ago I failed psychiatry because of my imperfect understanding of the obsessive-compulsive disorders. I had not grasped the difference between compulsions and obsessions, the professor pointed out from behind his big desk; and I had written that these disorders were rare when in fact they were exceedingly common. So I spent the summer clarifying these points in my mi...