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Open Access 01-12-2021 | Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder | Research

Executive functions and insight in OCD: a comparative study

Authors: Lucas Manarte, António R. Andrade, Linete do Rosário, Daniel Sampaio, Maria Luísa Figueira, Pedro Morgado, Barbara J. Sahakian

Published in: BMC Psychiatry | Issue 1/2021

Abstract

Background

Around 25 to 30% of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) do not respond to treatment. These patients have the longest duration of disease and the worst prognosis. Following years of research on this topic, insight has emerged as a potential explanation for this therapeutic resistance. Therefore, it has become important to characterize OCD patients with poor insight. Few studies have focused on the neuropsychological and cognitive characteristics of these patients.

Methods

To help fill this gap, we divided 57 patients into two groups, one with good insight and the other with poor insight, assessed their neuropsychological functions—through a Rey’s figure test, a California verbal learning test, a Toulouse–Piéron test and a Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST)—and compared the results with those of a paired control group.

Results

The statistical analysis, with a significance level of 95%, revealed differences in the executive function tests, and particularly in the WCST (p ≤ 0.001) and trail-making-test (TMT A/B) (p = 0.002).

Conclusions

These differences suggest that the neuropsychological profile of poor-insight patients is different from their good-insight counterparts, emphasize the role played by the executive functions in insight and highlights the need for more accurate neurocognitive research and treatment.

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Title: Executive functions and insight in OCD: a comparative study
Authors: Lucas Manarte
António R. Andrade
Linete do Rosário
Daniel Sampaio
Maria Luísa Figueira
Pedro Morgado
Barbara J. Sahakian
Publication date: 01-12-2021
Publisher: BioMed Central
Keyword: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Published in: BMC Psychiatry / Issue 1/2021
Electronic ISSN: 1471-244X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-021-03227-w

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Executive functions and insight in OCD: a comparative study

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

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