Scrupulosity: religious attitudes and clinical presentations.
The attitudes of Catholicism and Judaism to scrupulosity are presented and the similarity between their management programmes and present-day behavioural psychotherapy is noted. Two famous cases are presented from 16th-century Europe and a further four cases from our 20th-century clinic in Jerusalem. Certain common features are noted, typical of obsessive-compulsive disorders, while some features, typical of scrupulosity, are best understood by considering both their religious and psychological importance.
D000328:Adult; D002410:Catholicism; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D006167:Guilt; D006801:Humans; D007599:Judaism; D008297:Male; D009014:Morals; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012752:Shame