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Obsessive–compulsive disorder: a disorder of pessimal (non‐functional) motor behavior
Author(s) -
Zor R.,
Keren H.,
Hermesh H.,
Szechtman H.,
Mort J.,
Eilam D.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.2009.01370.x
Subject(s) - task (project management) , obsessive compulsive , psychology , compulsive behavior , functional disorder , motor behavior , motor disorder , anxiety disorder , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , clinical psychology , psychiatry , anxiety , medicine , management , disease , pathology , economics
Objective: To determine whether in addition to repetitiveness, the motor rituals of patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) involve reduced functionality due to numerous and measurable acts that are irrelevant and unnecessary for task completion. Method: Comparing motor rituals of OCD patients with behavior of non‐patient control individuals who were instructed to perform the same motor task. Results: Obsessive–compulsive disorder behavior comprises abundant acts that were not performed by the controls. These acts seem unnecessary or even irrelevant for the task that the patients were performing, and therefore are termed ‘non‐functional’. Non‐functional acts comprise some 60% of OCD motor behavior. Moreover, OCD behavior consists of short chains of functional acts bounded by long chains of non‐functional acts. Conclusion: The abundance of irrelevant or unnecessary acts in OCD motor rituals represents reduced functionality in terms of task completion, typifying OCD rituals as pessimal behavior (antonym of optimal behavior).