Comparative study of normal subjects and obsessive compulsive subjects on intrusive thoughts and memory

Four surveys have shown that more than 80% of normal subjects have obsessive thoughts with content similar to those found in obsessive compulsive patients. "Abnormal" and "normal" intrusive thoughts do not differ in content but in duration, frequency and rejectability. Thirteen D...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEncéphale Vol. 23; no. 3; p. 175
Main Authors Bouvard, M, Cottraux, J
Format Journal Article
LanguageFrench
Published France 01.05.1997
Subjects
Adult
Attention
Female
Humans
Male
Mental Recall
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - diagnosis
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - psychology
Psychomotor Performance
Reference Values
Retention (Psychology)
Stereotyped Behavior
Thinking
Verbal Learning
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Summary:Four surveys have shown that more than 80% of normal subjects have obsessive thoughts with content similar to those found in obsessive compulsive patients. "Abnormal" and "normal" intrusive thoughts do not differ in content but in duration, frequency and rejectability. Thirteen DSM III-R non-depressed obsessive compulsive patients with checking rituals were compared with 13 sex-, age-, and education matched control subjects. Our study compared the content of abnormal and normal obsessions. No between-group difference was found suggesting that a sub-group of obsessive compulsive patients with checking rituals did not change the general result. The memory processes were also compared. Several investigators have shown an impairment in visual spatial memory tasks but none in verbal tasks with obsessive compulsive patients. In three studies non clinical checkers were found to show some deficits in memory compared to non checkers. In our study we used the Wechsler memory scale. Clinical checkers appear to have difficulties recalling details of meaningfully linked verbal sequence and immediate visual reproduction.
ISSN:0013-7006