Executive Functions in Medicated Vs Drug Naïve Patients with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Several studies have found that OCD subjects have selective neuropsychological deficits in executive functioning (e.g. set shifting ability, response inhibition, and decision making), non-verbal (e.g., visual) memory, and visuospatial and visuo-constructional skills. Many studies found no deficits in non-verbal memory, set-shifting, response inhibition, decision making and planning functions. Findings of neuropsychological studies of OCD are inconsistent. There is limited research on executive functioning in medication-naïve, never treated OCD patients and no study compared drug naïve and medicated OCD with that of normal controls. In this study, we assessed 25 drug naïve, 25 medicated OCD patients and 25 normal participants matched for age, gender, and years of education on the executive tests- SWM, SRM, and SOC. Results revealed that there was no significant difference between drug naïve OCD and on medication OCD group on executive function tests. Both drug naïve OCD and on medication OCD group performed significantly poor on executive function in comparison to normal controls. It is concluded that medicated Vs drug naïve patients of OCD performed at a comparable level on executive function tests: SWM, SRM, and SOC. There were no effects of medication on executive function tasks in OCD.