When too much is not enough: obsessive-compulsive disorder as a pathology of stopping, rather than starting

In obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), individuals feel compelled to repeatedly perform security-related behaviors, even though these behaviours seem excessive and unwarranted to them. The present research investigated two alternative ways of explaining such behavior: (1) a dysfunction of activation--a starting problem--in which the level of excitation in response to stimuli suggesting potential danger is abnormally strong; versus (2) a dysfunction of termination--a stopping problem--in which the satiety-like process for shutting down security-related thoughts and actions is abnormally weak.

In two experiments, 70 patients with OCD (57 with washing compulsions, 13 with checking compulsions) and 72 controls were exposed to contamination cues--immersing a hand in wet diapers--and later allowed to wash their hands, first limited to 30 s and then for as long as desired. The intensity of activation of security motivation was measured objectively by change in respiratory sinus arrythmia. Subjective ratings (e.g., contamination) and behavioral measures (e.g., duration of hand washing) were also collected.

Compared to controls, OCD patients with washing compulsions did not differ significantly in their levels of initial activation to the threat of contamination; however, they were significantly less able to reduce this activation by engaging in the corrective behavior of hand-washing. Further, the deactivating effect of hand-washing in OCD patients with checking compulsions was similar to that for controls, indicating that the dysfunction of termination in OCD is specific to the patient's symptom profile.

These results are the first to show that OCD is characterized by a reduced ability of security-related behavior to terminate motivation evoked by potential danger, rather than a heightened initial sensitivity to potential threat. They lend support to the security-motivation theory of OCD (Szechtman & Woody, 2004) and have important implications both for research into the biological mechanisms underlying OCD and for the development of new treatment approaches.