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R Coetzer

Publications and source records attributed to R Coetzer.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Executive function in traumatic brain injury and obsessive-compulsive disorder: an overlap?

Thirteen individuals with traumatic brain injury, 13 individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and 10 normal controls were compared on neuropsychological measures of executive function. Individuals with a traumatic brain injury performed significantly poorer than the other two groups on a test measuring visuo-spatial strategy. Although the traumatic brain injury group made more errors on a test of maze learning and the OCD group less than the control group, this did not reach statistical significance. No support for an overlap in executive dysfunction in traumatic brain injury and OCD was found. It may be that the 'error prevention system' in the brain was influenced in a contrasting way by executive dysfunction in these disorders. This difference may reveal itself clinically in impulsivity/perseveration and slowness, respectively. Further studies were needed to test this hypothesis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Neuropsychological measures in women with obsessive-compulsive disorder and trichotillomania.

Women with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), trichotillomania (TTM) and normal controls completed a neuropsychological battery which was designed to test executive and visuospatial dysfunctions. Differences between the combined patient group and normal controls on the Rey-Osterreith Copy Test were consistent with previous work demonstrating similar neuropsychological dysfunctions in OCD and TTM.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Magnetic resonance brain imaging in women with obsessive-compulsive disorder and trichotillomania.

Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain was undertaken in women with obsessive-compulsive disorder (n = 13), trichotillomania (n = 17), and healthy controls (n = 12). Caudate volume and ventricular-brain ratio (VBR) (variables that have previously been highlighted as abnormal in studies of OCD) were compared in the three subject groups and were correlated with neuropsychological and neurological soft sign findings. No significant differences were found between women with OCD, trichotillomania and normal controls on caudate volume or VBR. Decreased left caudate volume was significantly correlated with impairment on neuropsychological testing and with increased neurological soft signs. The negative findings here may indicate that in women with OCD and related disorders structural brain abnormalities are less obvious or less common than in men with these conditions, or they may reflect inadequate sensitivity of the brain measures employed.

Adult↗