Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-27gpq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T07:17:02.823Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Everyday memory functioning in obsessive– compulsive disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2006

LENA JELINEK
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
STEFFEN MORITZ
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
DEIKE HEEREN
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
DIETER NABER
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

Abstract

Memory performance in obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is discussed as a pathogenetic risk factor for the emergence of OCD, particularly checking compulsions. At present, however, findings are mixed and little is known about memory performance in tasks relevant to everyday functioning in patients with OCD. For the present study, memory performance was assessed in 31 patients diagnosed with OCD and 33 healthy controls with the Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test (RBMT), which covers a wide range of verbal and nonverbal memory components as well as prospective memory. OCD patients performed comparably to healthy controls on the memory task for verbal, nonverbal, and prospective memory (p > .1). According to norm values, memory performance was unimpaired in most OCD patients. The present findings further challenge a broad account of the “memory deficit” hypothesis of OCD and compulsive checking, respectively (JINS, 2006, 12, 746–749.)

Type
BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS
Copyright
© 2006 The International Neuropsychological Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Goodman, W.K., Price, L.H., Rasmussen, S.A., Mazure, C., Fleischmann, R.L., Hill, C.L., Heninger, G.R., & Charney, D.S. (1989). The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale. I. Development, use, and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 10061011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1960). A rating scale for depression. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 23, 5662.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hand, I. & Büttner-Westphal, H. (1991). Die Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS): Ein halbstrukturiertes Interview zur Beurteilung des Schweregrades von Denk- und Handlungszwängen. Verhaltenstherapie, 1, 223225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helmstaedter, C., Hauff, M., & Elger, C.E. (1998). Ecological validity of list-learning tests and self-reported memory in healthy individuals and those with temporal lobe epilepsy. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 20, 365375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuelz, A.K., Hohagen, F., & Voderholzer, U. (2004). Neuropsychological performance in obsessive-compulsive disorder: A critical review. Biological Psychology, 65, 185236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lecrubier, Y., Sheehan, D.V., Weiller, E., Amorim, P., Bonora, I., Sheehan, K., Janavs, J., & Dunbar, G.C. (1997). The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI): A short diagnostic structured interview: Reliability and validity according to the CIDI. European Psychiatry, 12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moritz, S., Ferahli, S., & Naber, D. (2004a). Memory and attention performance in psychiatric patients: Lack of correspondence between clinician-rated and patient-rated functioning with neuropsychological test results. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 10, 623633.Google Scholar
Moritz, S. & Jelinek, L. (2005). Gedächtnis und Metagedächtnis bei Zwang—Einfluss von Verantwortlichkeit und Depressivität. Nervenarzt, 76(Suppl. 1), 146.Google Scholar
Moritz, S., Kloss, M., Jahn, H., Schick, M., & Hand, I. (2003). Impact of comorbid depressive symptoms on nonverbal memory and visuospatial performance in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 8, 261272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moritz, S., Meier, B., Hand, I., Schick, M., & Jahn, H. (2004b). Dimensional structure of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychiatry Research, 125, 171180.Google Scholar
Moritz, S., Meier, B., Kloss, M., Jacobsen, D., Wein, C., Fricke, S., & Hand, I. (2002). Dimensional structure of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS). Psychiatry Research, 109, 193199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muller, J. & Roberts, J.E. (2005). Memory and attention in obsessive-compulsive disorder: A review. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 19, 128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penades, R., Catalan, R., Andres, S., Salamero, M., & Gasto, C. (2005). Executive function and nonverbal memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychiatry Research, 133, 8190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perez, M. & Godoy, J. (1998). Comparison between a “traditional” memory test and a “behavioral” memory battery in Spanish patients. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 20, 496502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Savage, C.R., Baer, L., Keuthen, N.J., Brown, H.D., Rauch, S.L., & Jenike, M.A. (1999). Organizational strategies mediate nonverbal memory impairment in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 45, 905916.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sher, K.J., Mann, B., & Frost, R.O. (1984). Cognitive dysfunction in compulsive checkers: Further explorations. Behavior Research and Therapy, 22, 493502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wills, P., Clare, L., Shiel, A., & Wilson, B.A. (2000). Assessing subtle memory impairments in the everyday memory performance of brain injured people: Exploring the potential of the extended Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test. Brain Injury, 14, 693704.Google Scholar
Wilson, B., Cockburn, J., & Baddeley, A. (1985). The Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test. Reading, England: Thames Valley Test Co.; Gaylord, MI: National Rehabilitation Services.
Wilson, B., Cockburn, J., & Baddeley, A. (1992). Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test. German translation. Bury St. Edmunds (United Kingdom): Thames Valley Test Company.
Zitterl, W., Urban, C., Linzmayer, L., Aigner, M., Demal, U., Semler, B., & Zitterl-Eglseer, K. (2001). Memory deficits in patients with DSM-IV obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychopathology, 34, 113117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar