Neurocognitive performance in obsessive-compulsive disorder before and after treatment with cognitive behavioral therapy

IF 1.7 4区医学 Q3 PSYCHIATRY

Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry Pub Date : 2025-01-20 DOI:10.1016/j.jbtep.2025.102019

Michael G. Wheaton , Eyal Kalanthroff , Micha Mandel , Rachel Marsh , H. Blair Simpson

{"title":"Neurocognitive performance in obsessive-compulsive disorder before and after treatment with cognitive behavioral therapy","authors":"Michael G. Wheaton , Eyal Kalanthroff , Micha Mandel , Rachel Marsh , H. Blair Simpson","doi":"10.1016/j.jbtep.2025.102019","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Cross-sectional studies have reported neurocognitive performance deficits in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), particularly on tasks assessing response inhibition and proactive control over stimulus-driven behaviors (task control). However, it is not clear whether these deficits represent trait-like markers of OCD or are state-dependent.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>This study examined performance on two neurocognitive tasks in OCD patients (N = 26) before and after cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and matched healthy controls (HCs, N = 19). Tasks included the stop-signal task (assessing response inhibition) and the Object Interference (OI) task (assessing a specific form of task control). OCD patients completed these tasks and clinical ratings before and after 17 sessions of CBT delivered by expert therapists over two months. HCs completed tasks before and after 2-months. This design used CBT as a tool to reduce OCD symptoms to determine whether neurocognitive performance similarly improves.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Results showed that OCD patients and HCs did not significantly differ in their stop-signal performance at either time point. In contrast, OCD patients exhibited impaired performance on the OI task at baseline and their OI performance improved after treatment, resolving the deficit relative to HC.</div></div><div><h3>Limitations</h3><div>The sample size was small, particularly for the healthy control group. We also tested only two neurocognitive tasks. Future study with larger sample sizes and more tasks is warranted.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>These results suggest that task control deficits in OCD may be sensitive to symptom state. The possibility that improving task control represents a neurocognitive mechanism of successful CBT represents an important direction for future research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","volume":"87 ","pages":"Article 102019"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0005791625000035","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PSYCHIATRY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Cross-sectional studies have reported neurocognitive performance deficits in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), particularly on tasks assessing response inhibition and proactive control over stimulus-driven behaviors (task control). However, it is not clear whether these deficits represent trait-like markers of OCD or are state-dependent.

Methods

This study examined performance on two neurocognitive tasks in OCD patients (N = 26) before and after cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and matched healthy controls (HCs, N = 19). Tasks included the stop-signal task (assessing response inhibition) and the Object Interference (OI) task (assessing a specific form of task control). OCD patients completed these tasks and clinical ratings before and after 17 sessions of CBT delivered by expert therapists over two months. HCs completed tasks before and after 2-months. This design used CBT as a tool to reduce OCD symptoms to determine whether neurocognitive performance similarly improves.

Results

Results showed that OCD patients and HCs did not significantly differ in their stop-signal performance at either time point. In contrast, OCD patients exhibited impaired performance on the OI task at baseline and their OI performance improved after treatment, resolving the deficit relative to HC.

Limitations

The sample size was small, particularly for the healthy control group. We also tested only two neurocognitive tasks. Future study with larger sample sizes and more tasks is warranted.

Conclusions

These results suggest that task control deficits in OCD may be sensitive to symptom state. The possibility that improving task control represents a neurocognitive mechanism of successful CBT represents an important direction for future research.

查看原文本刊更多论文

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry Multiple-

CiteScore

3.60

自引率

5.60%

发文量

期刊介绍： The publication of the book Psychotherapy by Reciprocal Inhibition (1958) by the co-founding editor of this Journal, Joseph Wolpe, marked a major change in the understanding and treatment of mental disorders. The book used principles from empirical behavioral science to explain psychopathological phenomena and the resulting explanations were critically tested and used to derive effective treatments. The second half of the 20th century saw this rigorous scientific approach come to fruition. Experimental approaches to psychopathology, in particular those used to test conditioning theories and cognitive theories, have steadily expanded, and experimental analysis of processes characterising and maintaining mental disorders have become an established research area.