title: Personality characteristics in obsessive-compulsive disorder and individuals with subclinical obsessive-compulsive problems.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the relationship between normal personality traits and obsessive-compulsive (OC) phenomena in individuals with subclinical OC problems and patients whose problems met diagnostic criteria for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
  
  
  METHODS
  In Study 1, 25 healthy volunteers with high scores on the Padua Inventory (PI) and 28 controls with low scores on the PI were compared on the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire (SPSRQ), the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), and measures of depression and state anxiety. In Study 2, 56 treatment-seeking participants meeting DSM-IV criteria for OCD and 40 healthy volunteers of similar sociodemographic characteristics were compared on the same measures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both individuals with subclinical OC problems and OCD patients scored significantly higher than their respective control groups on sensitivity to punishment, neuroticism and psychoticism. OCD patients, but not individuals with subclinical OC problems, scored lower in extraversion than their respective controls. Neuroticism was the strongest predictor of high scores on the PI in Study 1, while psychoticism was the strongest predictor of the presence of an OCD diagnosis in Study 2.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Healthy participants with high scores on OC measures and OCD patients share various personality traits but can also be distinguished according to the level of extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Miquel Angel
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Fullana
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mataix-Cols
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Trujillo
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Caseras
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Serrano
authors.forename: Pino
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Alonso
authors.forename: Josep M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Menchón
authors.forename: Julio
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vallejo
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Torrubia
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D010551:Personality; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012720:Severity of Illness Index