Intrusive Thoughts and Executive Functions in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Abstract

Objectives: Our aim was to compare the effects of an unwanted intrusive thought on executive function in a group of people with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and in a healthy group. Method: The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function Adult (BRIEF-A) was used to measure executive dysfunction in everyday life in people with OCD. The study participants underwent either an intrusive thought induction or neutral thought induction prior to the administration of three computer-based tests of executive function. Results: The BRIEF-A results confirmed the impairment of executive function in everyday life for patients with OCD. In the number-letter task, patients with OCD displayed a longer reaction time (relative to the controls). There were no intergroup differences in the local-global task. In the go/no-go task, there was a significant impairment (p = 0.03) in the OCD group (with more commission errors than controls). There was a non-significant trend towards an effect of thought induction in both groups in the number-letter task. However, intrusive thought induction did not have a greater effect than neutral thought induction on the OCD group in any of the tasks. Conclusions: Intrusive thought induction has no effect on executive function in the two groups. The two groups differed with regard to two executive tasks.