Influence of specific obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions on strategic planning in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This study investigates obsessive-compulsive disorder patients in terms of strategic planning and its association with specific obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions. METHOD: We evaluated 32 obsessive-compulsive disorder patients. Strategic planning was assessed by the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test, and the obsessive-compulsive dimensions were assessed by the Dimensional Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale. In the statistical analyses, the level of significance was set at 5%. We employed linear regression, including age, intelligence quotient, number of comorbidities, the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale score, and the Dimensional Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale. RESULTS: The Dimensional Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale "worst-ever" score correlated significantly with the planning score on the copy portion of the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (r = 0.4, p = 0.04) and was the only variable to show a significant association after linear regression (β = 0.55, t = 2.1, p = 0.04). Compulsive hoarding correlated positively with strategic planning (r = 0.44, p = 0.03). None of the remaining symptom dimensions presented any significant correlations with strategic planning. CONCLUSION: We found the severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms to be associated with strategic planning. In addition, there was a significant positive association between the planning score on the copy portion of the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test copy score and the hoarding dimension score on the Dimensional Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale. Our results underscore the idea that obsessive-compulsive disorder is a heterogeneous disorder and suggest that the hoarding dimension has a specific neuropsychological profile. Therefore, it is important to assess the peculiarities of each obsessive-compulsive symptom dimension.

Neurocognitive performance in unmedicated patients with hoarding disorder.

“…However, the majority of prior studies that have addressed neurocognitive functioning in compulsive hoarding reported the inclusion of subjects who were taking prescribed psychotropic medications (Kathmann et al, 2005; Lawrence et al, 2006; Tolin & Villavicencio, 2011; Tolin et al, 2011; Blom et al, 2011; Pinto et al, 2011, Ayers et al, 2013; Morein-Zamir et al, 2013), and the remainder did not report whether subjects were taking medications or list medication use as exclusion criteria. Thus, the neurocognitive deficits in attention, memory, and executive functioning found in those studies might have been due to the effects of psychotropic medications (Amado-Boccara et al, 1995; Wadsworth et al, 2005; Stein & Strickland, 1998; Stewart, 2005; Dias et al, 2012), even those of SRI medications (Tempesta et al, 2013; Herzallah et al, 2013; Lenze et al, 2013) and other antidepressants (Wadsworth et al, 2005).…”

“…Another study found a significant difference between HD patients and normal controls on RCFT measures of organizational strategy, but no difference between the HD and OCD groups (Tolin et al, 2011). Pinto and colleagues (2011) found a positive correlation between hoarding symptom severity scores and organizational strategy for the copy portion of the RCFT in participants with OCD. However, in contrast to the other findings, Jang et al (2010) reported that the presence of hoarding symptoms in participants diagnosed with OCD was not correlated with RCFT performance.…”

“…One possible contribution to these discrepancies might be the neurocognitive effects of psychotropic medications taken by participants in those studies. A review of the previously published literature on neurocognitive functioning in compulsive hoarding shows that the majority of prior studies (Kathmann, Rupertseder, & Zaudig, 2005; Lawrence et al, 2006; Tolin & Villavicencio, 2011; Tolin et al, 2011; Blom et al, 2011; Pinto et al, 2011, Ayers et al, 2013; Morein-Zamir et al, 2013) included subjects taking psychotropic and other medications. The remainder did not report whether their subjects were taking medications and did not list medications as exclusion criteria.…”

Symptom dimensions in OCD and their association with clinical characteristics and comorbid disorders

“…Recent studies support that these dimensions may have unique neurobiological correlates. A study demonstrated an association between strategic planning and the DYBOCS hoarding dimension suggesting that OCD is a heterogeneous disorder with unique neuropsychological profile of hoarding dimension (Pinto et al, 2011). In a study of white matter abnormalities, symptom severity on the 'obsessing' dimension was negatively correlated with fractional anisotropy in the corpus callosum and the cingulated bundle whereas severity on the ordering dimension was negatively correlated with the fractional anisotropy in the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and the right optic radiation (Koch et al, 2012).…”

Central Coherence, Organizational Strategy, and Visuospatial Memory in Children and Adolescents With Anorexia Nervosa

“…This article will focus on organizational strategy in the visuospatial context. Much work has been done in this area with obsessive compulsive disorder Mataix-Cols, 2003;Penadés, Catalán, Andrés, Salamero, & Gastó, 2005;Pinto et al, 2011;Savage et al, 1999Savage et al, , 2000Shin et al, 2004), which may be of particular relevance to the field of eating disorders, given the suggested commonality between anorexia nervosa and obsessive compulsive disorder (i.e., food-and weight-related obsessions and compulsive dietary behavior; Jacobi, Hayward, de Zwaan, Kraemer, & Agras, 2004). Using the method employed by Savage et al (1999), Sherman et al (2006) investigated organizational strategy similarities between obsessive compulsive disorder and anorexia nervosa.…”