ASSESSMENT OF NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS IN DIFFERENT SYMPTOM DIMENSIONS OF OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER

There have been few studies regarding the neuropsychological evaluations in
different symptom dimensions of Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and previous studies around
this field have led to contradictory results. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to evaluate the
neuropsychological functions of different symptom dimensions of OCD.
Materials & Methods: This was a descriptive-correlative study and the population comprised of all
OCD patients who had referred to the counseling and mental health office of Medical Sciences
University of Tabriz in 2015. Using purposive sampling 33 patients were selected to participate in the
study. The measures applied in this study were: DOCS, Y-BOCS, BDI-II, WCST, word- color stroop,
WMS-R and GO-NO GO.
Results: The results indicated that all OCD dimensions, contamination, responsibility for harm and
symmetry dimensions were correlated with poor performance in neuropsychological experiments;
nevertheless, there was no significant association between participants’ scores on the dimension of
unacceptable obsessions and their functioning in the neuropsychological experiments.
Conclusion: According to the findings of the study, it could be suggested that the different symptoms
of OCD were associated with different levels of performance in neuropsychological experiments. These
implications could provide useful information for clinical interventions, assist clinicians in the diagnosis
of vulnerability to the disorder, and facilitate the preventive strategies.