NEUROLOGICAL AND NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES OF PATIENTS WITH OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER

  • 1 January 1983
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 18  (7) , 741-751
Abstract
DSM-III [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-III] diagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder patients (18) were studied with the Halstead-Reitan Battery (HRB), EEG and CT [computed tomography] scans. Results for the group as a whole were within the normal range; 2 patients had abnormal EEG and 4 showed average impairment ratings on the HRB high enough to suggest organic deficits. More than half of the subjects were impaired on the tactual performance test from the HRB suggesting a possible deficit in spatial perception. These data do not define a single neuropsychological deficit nor do they replicate an earlier report of left frontal lobe dysfunction in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Cerebral CT scans in 10 patients, including all those with EEG and average impairment rating abnormalities, showed VBR [ventricular brain ratio], asymmetry and sulcal prominence measures indistinguishable from a matched group of nonpsychiatric control subjects.