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Impulsiveness in Obsessive-Compulsive Patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Rudolf Hoehn-Saric  and
Vernon C. Barksdale
Rudolf Hoehn-Saric
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA
Vernon C. Barksdale
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA
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Summary

Obsessive-compulsive patients with a history of poor impulse control were identified and compared with non-impulsive obsessive-compulsive patients. Although both groups reported comparable obsessive-compulsive symptoms, the impulsive group rated significantly higher on disturbances during childhood, which included learning problems, low frustration tolerance, poor interpersonal relationships and attention-seeking behaviour. The impulsive group also scored highly on the neuroticism scale of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and reported a higher incidence of somatic symptoms. It appears that poor impulse control was related to disturbances which had already manifested themselves during childhood, while the obsessive-compulsive disorder was superimposed at a later time.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 143 , Issue 2 , August 1983 , pp. 177 - 182
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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