Multifaceted impulsivity in obsessive-compulsive disorder with hoarding symptoms

Abstract

Objective

Hoarding is common in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and OCD with hoarding may have poorer prognostic features than OCD without hoarding. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between multifaceted impulsivity and hoarding symptoms in individuals with OCD. This relationship is important to be able to understand the psychopathological mechanisms of hoarding symptoms in OCD patients.

Methods

The study included 136 individuals with OCD classified as OCD with high hoarding symptoms (OCDwHH, n = 41) and OCD with low/none hoarding symptoms (OCDwLH, n = 95), together with 94 healthy control subjects. All the participants completed the Hoarding Rating Scale-Interview, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11, Yale-Brown Obsessions and Compulsions Scale, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale.

Results

The OCDwHH group had more severe anxiety (p = 0.016) and attentional impulsivity (p = 0.002) than OCDwLH. Attentional impulsivity scores were positively correlated with hoarding symptom scores (p < 0.001). Both attentional and motor impulsivity scores were positively correlated with anxiety levels (p = 0.037, p = 0.045, respectively). In partial correlation analysis, motor impulsivity was positively correlated with the severity of hoarding symptoms controlling for anxiety severity (p = 0.045). In hierarchical linear regression analysis, only attentional impulsivity predicted the severity of hoarding symptoms independently of anxiety, severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms and motor impulsivity (β = 0.268, Adjusted R² = 0.114, p = 0.006).

Conclusion

Attentional impulsivity is associated with hoarding symptoms in OCD. Future studies that reveal this relationship may contribute to treatment modalities for the OCD patients with hoarding symptoms.

Keywords:

• Hoarding
• obsessive-compulsive disorder
• impulsivity
• attention
• anxiety

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Selim Tumkaya

Selim Tumkaya, MD, is currently a professor at psychiatry department of Pamukkale University in Denizli, Turkey. He research on Obsessive-compulsive disorder and neurocognitive functions in mental illness.

Bengu Yucens

Bengu Yucens, MD, is currently a assistant professor at psychiatry department of Pamukkale University in Denizli, Turkey. She research on Obsessive-compulsive disorder and sexual dysfunctions.

Mehmet Mart

Mehmet Mart, MD, works as a psychiatrist at Adıyaman University Hospital, Adıyaman, Turkey.

Didem Tezcan

Didem Tezcan, MD, works as a psychiatrist at Izzet Baysal Hospital, Bolu, Turkey.

Himani Kashyap

Himani Kashyap, MPhil, PhD, is an associate professor of clinical psychology. Her research and clinical interest include neurocognition, metacognition, and emotion regulation in psychiatric disorders, with an emphasis on obsessive-compulsive disorder.