Page No.228-236.
Sanjeev Kumar Gupta
All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore
C. R .J. Khess and S. Venkatesan
Central Institute of Psychiatry, Kanke, Ranchi All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore
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The diagnostic heterogeneity, its nosological placement, and the notion of spectrum
rather than the earlier position of specific types or traits to understand personality
factors in obsessive compulsive disorders is gaining ground. There is some
inconsistency regarding placement of impulsivity as ‘low’ pole or central axis in this
spectrum, thereby, warranting further investigation. This hospital based two-group
cross comparative study examines impulsivity in patients with obsessive compulsive
disorder (N=30) against matched healthy controls (N=30). Using purposive
sampling, target respondents were administered ‘Barratt Impulsiveness Scale’ and
‘Cambridge Gambling Task’. Inferential statistical techniques used to compare the
two groups and identify covariance between scores on the studied variables reveal
that patients with obsessive compulsive disorder consistently score high on
impulsivity in comparison to normal healthy controls. These findings are discussed
with opposing findings before concluding on the need for deeper investigations in
this area which has bearing on planning treatment regimes for reduction of impulsivity
in patients suffering from such clinical conditions
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