Thesis (M.S.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2008. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

This study compared a parent-report measure of childhood OCD symptoms, the survey form of the Leyton Obsessional Inventory - Parent Version (SLOI-PV), with a youth self-report measure, the survey form of the Leyton Obsessional Inventory - Child Version (SLOI-CV); specifically, the psychometric properties of the scales were examined, along with their efficacy in discriminating youth with OCD symptoms from other clinically-referred and normal youth. Participants were 72 youth-parent pairs. Youth ranged from 9 to 18 years of age; 31 youth were diagnosed with OCD or obsessive-compulsive behaviours (OCB), 11 youth were clinical controls and 30 were normal controls. The psychometric properties of the SLOI-PV and SLOI-CV were adequate and an optimal cut-off score of 15 was found for both scales. The parent-rated scale, the SLOI-PV, was more accurate in classifying the youth into the three groups and more sensitive to OCD symptoms than the SLOI-CV. Implications of these findings are discussed in view of the potential use of the SLOI-PV as a screening tool for identifying childhood OCD in community and clinical populations. / Graduate

This project investigated the metacognitive strategies used to appraise obsessive thoughts employed by individuals with different anxiety symptoms. Two hundred eighty-seven undergraduate students completed two repertory grids and three anxiety scales. The repertory grids respectively examined the appraisal process of intrusive thoughts both from the perspective of the rater and the rater's imagined average person. Variables quantified from the rep grid related to the construal process of raters' own intrusions, failed to demonstrate robust differences between OCD, non-OCD anxious, and non-anxious individuals. However, it appears that anxious individuals, not just those with OCD, use metacognitive strategies to suppress rigid constructions under perceived social evaluation. Future studies may wish to use related grid variables to explore the relation between obsessions and social anxiety.

published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

No description available.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common psychiatric illness characterised by recurrent, intrusive thoughts and repetitive, stereotyped behaviours. There is converging evidence that OCD is associated with a specific cognitive deficit related to organising and manipulating information in working memory. There is also evidence that OCD is associated with certain pre-morbid personality traits. However, further research is needed to elucidate whether these cognitive deficits and personality traits are specific to OCD or are present in other anxiety disorders and/or individuals with sub-clinical levels of obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms. In this thesis, 20 OCD patients were compared to 20 patients with panic disorder, 20 subjects with sub-clinical OC symptoms and 20 healthy control subjects on tests of working memory and the Five-Factor Model of personality. To measure different aspects of working memory, participants completed three delayed matching-to-sample (DMS) tasks and two continuous performance working memory tasks (n-back tasks). The DMS tasks assessed the ability to actively maintain different types of information in working memory (irregular objects; geometric objects; spatial locations). The n-back tasks assessed the ability to update and temporally order verbal and spatial stimuli in working memory. The OCD patients were less accurate than the healthy control subjects on the memory trials of the spatial DMS task, the 3- back trials of the spatial n-back task, and the 2-back and 3-back trials of the verbal n-back task. The OCD patients were also less accurate than patients with panic disorder and sub-clinical OC subjects on the verbal 3-back task. The results indicated that OCD patients were impaired on cognitive tasks requiring the maintenance of spatial stimuli and the updating and temporal ordering of verbal and spatial stimuli in working memory. The OCD patients were not impaired on tasks requiring the maintenance of object information in working memory. To measure normal personality traits, subjects completed the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PIR). Compared to healthy controls, OCD patients reported being highly emotional and introverted, less open to new experiences, and lacking confidence in their own abilities. The OCD patients were similar to the panic disorder patients on most of the domains and facets of the NEO PI-R, however, they were distinguished by their lower openness to experiencing new activities, and being less diligent and purposeful. Compared to the sub-clinical OC subjects, OCD patients reported being more prone to feelings of depression, more vulnerable to stress, less likely to experience positive emotions, more humble and sincere and less able to carry tasks through to completion. Overall, the thesis provided further evidence that OCD patients are impaired on cognitive tasks requiring the organisation and manipulation of information in working memory. However, it is still unclear whether this deficit arises due to capacity constraints being exceeded in working memory systems, or some other executive dysfunction such as excessive error monitoring. Future research, combining neuropsychological testing with neuroimaging techniques, is required to better understand the neural mechanisms underlying the impaired performance of OCD patients on tests of working memory. The present thesis also found that normal personality traits � as measured by the NEO PI-R � were able to distinguish OCD patients from healthy controls, patients with panic disorder and individuals with sub-clinical levels of OC symptoms. The results have implications for sub-clinical OC research and the clinical management of OCD.

Aims: A case-control study is done aiming(i)to explore the prevalence of OCSs and OCD among patients with Schizophrenia treated with Clozapine(Target group)in comparison with those treated with Haloperidol(Control group), (ii) to identify the associative factors in relationship with OCSs and OCD in Schizophrenia patients treated with Clozapine in comparison with Haloperidol , (iii)to find out predictors for the increase of OCSs and OCD among patients treated with Clozapine in comparison with Haloperidol. All these information may contribute to the understanding of the underlying etiology of OCSs and OCD. Method: Sample is comprised with patients aged 18-65 who meet the diagnostic criteria of Schizophrenia-spectrum disorder based on ICD 10 and retrieval of medical records. A total of 120 patients, comprising 30 males and 30 females patients currently prescribed with Clozapine(Target group)whereas30 male and 30 female patients are currently prescribed with Haloperidol (Control group)were identified from the Schizophrenia outpatient clinic in the same hospital. Both groups will be matched with gender. Obsessive compulsive symptoms were measured with the Chinese version of Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale to rate the severity of the symptoms. The severity of Schizophrenia symptoms was rated by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, and the Clinical Global Impression was used to measure severity symptoms in general. The social functioning of patient was rated by The Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale(SOFAS). A clinical interview questionnaire was developed to determine the social and demographic characteristics, as well as other clinical features of the disorder. It included patient’s age, frequency of hospitalisation, age of onset and duration of Schizophrenia, age of onset and duration of OCSs and OCD and age of first hospitalisation, Duration of Untreated Psychosis (DUP) and current antipsychotic medication dosage( Chlorpromazine equivalent dose). Results: From the 120 patients identified and approached, 96 (80%) patients (48 male and 48 female patients) were consented for the study. The current study found that among those prescribed with Clozapine (Target group), there were 26.5% comorbid with OCSs and OCD, whereas none patients reported OCSs and OCD among the Haloperidol Control group. Patients with OCSs and OCD were significantly correlated with PANSS Positive Syndrome Score and PANSS Total Syndrome Score factors analysis by the N Par test of Mann-Whitney U, Wilcoxon W and Z score for Asymp. Using correlations test analysis, the most significantly factors to OCSs and OCD are Clozapine (Target group), PANSS Positive Syndrome Score and PANSS Total Syndrome Score. Result showed that those three factors cannot be the prediction of OCSs and OCD from the Binary logistic regression analysis. / published_or_final_version / Psychological Medicine / Master / Master of Psychological Medicine

Graduate

No description available.

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1985. / Bibliography: leaves 105-123. / Photocopy. / Microfilm. / ix, 148 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm