[The feeling of incompleteness. Rediscovery of an old psychopathological symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder].
This paper describes clinically relevant aspects of incompleteness experiences in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) (feelings of incompleteness concerning the self, "not just right" experiences and inability to achieve "closure" concerning actions/perceptions, compensatory urge to achieve "just right" feelings) and reviews empirical results and important research areas (frequency, association with symptom-based subtypes, motivational heterogeneity within subtypes, harm avoidance and incompleteness as basic OCD elements, sensation-based perfectionism, and relation to tic-related OCD and dissociative processes, especially depersonalisation/derealisation). Neurobiological explanations, biographical reconstruction, and treatment approaches are briefly summarised. It is emphasised that cognitive-behavioural methods tailored to OCD as an anxiety disorder must be modified considerably for the treatment of incompleteness-motivated OCD.
Psychosomatische Fachklinik, Institut für Fort- und Weiterbildung in klinischer Verhaltenstherapie e.V. , Kurbrunnenstrasse 21a, 67098, Bad Dürkheim, Germany. dw-ecker@gmx.de
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D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001247:Asthenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D003887:Desensitization, Psychologic; D040261:Harm Reduction; D006801:Humans; D009042:Motivation; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D011379:Prognosis; D012718:Set, Psychology