Comparison of the Association Between Goal-Directed Planning and Self-reported Compulsivity vs Obsessive-Compulsive...

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Transdiagnostic dimensional approaches offer an alternative to categorical diagnoses in mental health.
• These dimensions capture heterogeneity within and similarity across diagnostic categories.
• Dimensional models may bridge psychological and neural substrates more effectively.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if a self-reported compulsivity dimension is more strongly associated with goal-directed cognitive deficits than an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) diagnosis.
• To compare the association of a compulsivity dimension with cognitive deficits against OCD diagnosis.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study involving patients with OCD and/or generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
• Data collection included diagnostic interviews, cognitive testing (e.g., Wisconsin Card Sorting Test), and self-reported clinical assessments.
• Analysis examined associations between diagnostic categories and symptom dimensions (compulsivity, obsessionality, general distress) with cognitive performance.

Main Results:

• OCD diagnosis was not significantly associated with goal-directed performance compared to GAD.
• A compulsivity dimension showed a significant negative association with goal-directed performance.
• The compulsivity dimension was also associated with abstract reasoning and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance, unlike the OCD diagnosis.

Conclusions:

• Deficits in goal-directed planning in OCD may be better explained by a compulsivity dimension than by the OCD diagnosis itself.
• These findings have implications for research linking brain mechanisms to clinical symptoms.
• A dimensional approach may enhance our understanding of the structure of mental illness.