Examining components of decision making in obsessive-compulsive disorder

The purpose of this study was to examine decision making in individuals with OCD as compared to healthy controls. To the author's knowledge, this was the first study to evaluate decision making in OCD using multiple neuropsychological measures to assess proposed components of the construct, including ambiguity, impulsivity, risk perception, and organizational strategies. It was also believed to be the first study to compare subjective and objective decision making in OCD. Subjective decision making showed poor convergent validity with the three objective measures, as only self-reported indecision was significantly different between groups. Performance on a memory task, as a proxy for organizational strategies, indicated differences between groups on strategic learning and the effect of interference. Although the presence of decision making deficits remains inconclusive, this study provided support for the conclusion that individuals with OCD have perceived difficulty with decision making, but not necessarily objective deficits. Treatment implications are discussed.