title: Neuropsychological assessment in obsessive-compulsive disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Neuropsychological deficits in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have been encouraged by brain imaging studies suggesting a putative fron to- striatial biological basis of the condition. Studies of neuropsychological functions in OCD have documented deficits in several cognitive domains, particularly with regard to visuospatial abilities, executive functioning, motor speed and memory. The Aim of the present study was to assess neuropsychological profile of patients with OCD. Objectives of the study were to assess and compare the neuropsychological profile of patients with OCD and matched healthy controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty clinically stable outpatients with ICD-10 diagnosis of OCD and equal number of normal controls matched for age, education, gender and handedness were studied using a battery of neuropsychological tests. The tests consisted of verbal and performance tests of intelligence, memory, perceptual motor functions, set test and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST).
  
  
  RESULTS
  On perceptual-motor functions, verbal fluency, executive functions (WCST), intelligence and memory patients with OCD did not show impairments comparable to healthy controls. An attempt to correlate the test findings with the duration of illness, stability of illness and the average drug dose was made and it was found that there was no correlation between the two.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study does not provide evidence for a localized neuropsychological/cognitive impairment in OCD in cases that are stable for at least three months. Absence of impairments in perceptual-motor functions, verbal fluency, executive functions (WCST), intelligence, and memory does not agree with the results of other studies using these tests.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Adarsh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kohli
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Devender Kumar
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Rana
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Nitin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Parmanand
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kulhara
keywords: Executive functions; OCD; neuropsychological