Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Memory Deficit ( Literature Review)
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Memory Deficit
Miriam Perez Duarte
Nova Southeastern University Professor Weylin Stemglanz
Introduction to Psychology
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a mentally crippling anxiety disorder, which is defined by obsessive thoughts, images, or impulses that persist regardless of the person’s endeavors to defeat them (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2010). Some common OCD experiences are: extreme checking, extreme cleaning, and any habit that is taken to the extreme; OCD can also include common phobias: to animals, needles, heights, etc. The compulsions are repetitive and have different responses according to the obsession. At first, people can control the compulsions, but when anxiety rises, the tension seems uncontrollable (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2010). OCD can be very frustrating because they cannot control the compulsion. This paper aims to study whether there is an extreme connection between OCD and memory deficit. In the first article selected, the authors focused on repeated checking, which is making sure that everything is correct or ok around them. “Did I turn off the stove? Good inhibitory control can protect from influence of repeated checking?” explains that repeated checking increased uncertainty related to obsessive thoughts (Linkovski, et.al.2012). They used fifty-five people to prove their hypothesis. The participants were tested with a “stop signal followed by repeated checking task. Additionally participants were asked to complete self report questionnaires measuring OCD, anxiety, checking” (Linkovski, et.al.2012). The article states, these results suggest that deficits in inhibitory control may underlie cognitive vulnerability in OCD (Linkovski, et.al.2012). In other words, the results prove their hypothesis that people with OCD have less cognitive ability and, therefore, less memory ability due to the extreme checking.
In the second article, the authors focused once again in the repeated checking.
Miriam Perez Duarte
Nova Southeastern University Professor Weylin Stemglanz
Introduction to Psychology
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a mentally crippling anxiety disorder, which is defined by obsessive thoughts, images, or impulses that persist regardless of the person’s endeavors to defeat them (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2010). Some common OCD experiences are: extreme checking, extreme cleaning, and any habit that is taken to the extreme; OCD can also include common phobias: to animals, needles, heights, etc. The compulsions are repetitive and have different responses according to the obsession. At first, people can control the compulsions, but when anxiety rises, the tension seems uncontrollable (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2010). OCD can be very frustrating because they cannot control the compulsion. This paper aims to study whether there is an extreme connection between OCD and memory deficit. In the first article selected, the authors focused on repeated checking, which is making sure that everything is correct or ok around them. “Did I turn off the stove? Good inhibitory control can protect from influence of repeated checking?” explains that repeated checking increased uncertainty related to obsessive thoughts (Linkovski, et.al.2012). They used fifty-five people to prove their hypothesis. The participants were tested with a “stop signal followed by repeated checking task. Additionally participants were asked to complete self report questionnaires measuring OCD, anxiety, checking” (Linkovski, et.al.2012). The article states, these results suggest that deficits in inhibitory control may underlie cognitive vulnerability in OCD (Linkovski, et.al.2012). In other words, the results prove their hypothesis that people with OCD have less cognitive ability and, therefore, less memory ability due to the extreme checking.
In the second article, the authors focused once again in the repeated checking.