Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T19:51:47.007Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Phenomenology of Obsessive-Compulsive Neurosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

R. S. Stern  and
J. P. Cobb
R. S. Stern
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF
J. P. Cobb
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Forty-five patients with obsessive-compulsive neurosis were given a specially devised structured interview with the aim of elucidating aspects of the phenomenology. Four main kinds of ritual were found to predominate: cleaning, avoiding, repeating and checking. A surprisingly large number of patients had little or no resistance to carrying out their rituals. The recognition of senselessness of a ritual was a more important criterion than that of resistance, but patients with predominantly repeating rituals did demonstrate resistance. It is proposed that a redefinition of obsessive-compulsive neurosis with less emphasis on resistance as a necessary condition may be appropriate.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 132 , Issue 3 , March 1978 , pp. 233 - 239
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1978 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Akhtar, W., Wig, N. N., Varma, V., Pershad, D. & Verma, S. K. (1975) A phenomenological analysis of symptoms in obsessive-compulsive neurosis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 127, 342–8.Google Scholar
Allen, J. J. & Tune, G. S. (1975) The Lynfield Obsessional/Compulsive Questionnaires. Scottish Medical Journal, 20, 21–4.Google Scholar
Beech, H. R. (1974) Obsessional States, Methuen's Manuals of Modern Psychology.Google Scholar
Black, A. (1974) The natural history of obsessional neurosis. In Obsessional States (ed. Beech, H. R.). Methuen's Manuals of Modern Psychology.Google Scholar
Boersma, K., Hengst, S., Dekker, J. & Emmelkamp, P. M. G. (1976) Exposure and response prevention in the natural environment: a comparison with obsessive-compulsive patients. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 14, 19–24.Google Scholar
Capstick, N. & Seldrup, J. (1973) Phenomenological aspects of obsessional patients treated with clomipramine. British Journal of Psychiatry, 122, 719–20.Google Scholar
Cooper, J. (1970) The Leyton Obsessional Inventory. Psychological Medicine, 1, 48–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fenichel, O. (1945) The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Janet, P. (1903) Les obsessions et la psychasthénie. Paris: Alcan.Google Scholar
Jaspers, K. (1913–46) Allegemeine Psychopathologie. Trans as General Psychopathology, 1963, by Hoenig and Hamilton. Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, A. (1935) Problems of obsessional illness. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 29, 13–24.Google Scholar
Marks, I. M., Hodgson, R. & Rachman, S. (1975) Treatment of chronic obsessive-compulsive neurosis by in vivo exposure. British Journal of Psychiatry, 127, 349–65.Google Scholar
Mayer-Gross, W., Slater, E. & Roth, M. (1969) Clinical Psychiatry, 3rd edition. Baillière, Tindall and Cassell.Google Scholar
Rachman, S. (1974) Primary obsessional slowness. Behaviour, Research and Therapy, 12, 9–18.Google Scholar
Rachman, S. (1976) Obsessional-compulsive checking. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 14, 269–77.Google Scholar
Rüdin, E. (1953) Ein Beitrag zur Frage der Zwangskrankheit insbesondere ihre hereditären Beziehungen. Archiv für Psychiatric und Zeitschrift für Neurologie, 191, 14–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, K. (1925) Zwangszustände in Schizophrenic Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten, 74, 93–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strauss, E. (1948) On Obsession: a Clinical and Methodological Study. Nervous and Mental Diseases Monograph No. 73.Google Scholar
Stengel, E. (1951) The diagnosis and treatment of obsessional states. The Medical Press, 134–6.Google Scholar
Walker, V.J. (1973) Explanation in obsessional neurosis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 123, 675–80.Google Scholar
Woodruff, R. & Pitts, F. N. (1964) Monozygotic twins with obsessional neurosis. American Journal of Psychiatry, 120, 1075–80.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.