PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Compulsive Behavior”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,441 records · Page 80Linked to original sources
PubMed2001

Psychogenic excoriation. Clinical features, proposed diagnostic criteria, epidemiology and approaches to treatment.

Psychogenic excoriation (also called neurotic excoriation, acne excoriée, pathological or compulsive skin picking, and dermatotillomania) is characterised by excessive scratching or picking of normal skin or skin with minor surface irregularities. It is estimated to occur in 2% of dermatology clinic patients and is associated with functional impairment, medical complications (e.g. infection) or substantial distress. Psychogenic excoriation is not yet recognised in the DSM. We propose preliminary operational criteria for its diagnosis that take into account the heterogeneity of behaviour associated with psychogenic excoriation and allow for subtyping along a compulsivity-impulsivity spectrum. Psychiatric comorbidity in patients with psychogenic excoriation, particularly mood and anxiety disorders, is common. Patients with psychogenic excoriation frequently have comorbid disorders in the compulsivity-impulsivity spectrum, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, substance use disorders, eating disorders, trichotillomania, kleptomania, compulsive buying, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder. There are few studies of the pharmacological treatment of patients with psychogenic excoriation. Case studies, open trials and small double-blind studies have demonstrated the efficacy of selective serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) reuptake inhibitors in psychogenic excoriation. Other pharmacological treatments that have been successful in case reports include doxepin, clomipramine, naltrexone, pimozide and olanzapine. There are no controlled trials of behavioural or psychotherapeutic treatment for psychogenic excoriation. Treatments found to be effective in case reports include a behavioural technique called 'habit reversal'; a multicomponent programme consisting of self-monitoring, recording of episodes of scratching, and procedures that produce alternative responses to scratching; and an 'eclectic' psychotherapy programme with insight-oriented and behavioural components.

Compulsive Behavior↗
PubMed1977

Redefining addiction. I. Making addiction a scientifically and socially useful concept.

Addiction is both a more complex-and a more common-phenomenon than either medical personnel or laymen have realized. It is impossible to link addiction as a medical syndrome to any one drug or family of drugs, or to trace it to a specific biological mechanism. As scientists have uncovered more data leading to these conclusions, they have turned away from employing the term "addiction." Yet many drug researchers and workers in the helping professions continue to make incorrect assumptions about both addiction and drug use. In this paper the author attempts to broaden the applicability of the addiction concept in order to give it meaning. With this broader approach, we find that many involvements that people become engaged in follow the pattern of addiction, while some involvements with supposedly addictive drugs do not follow this pattern. The addiction cycle is explored by means of the following psychological definition: An addiction is any compulsive activity or involvement which decreases a person's ability to deal with other aspects of his life to the point where that activity or involvement comprises the dominant source of emotional reinforcement and identity for the person.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

The facade compulsive: a type of latent schizophrenia.

A specific type of latent schizophrenic, the facade compulsive person, was described and illustrated. The importance of isolating this "type" in prescribing treatment procedures was noted. The usefulness of test configurations for sharpening and reformulating psychiatric nosologies was acknowledged.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Compulsive procrastination: some self-reported characteristics.

In Sample 1, 46 procrastinators compared with 52 nonprocrastinators claimed lower self-esteem, greater public self-consciousness and social anxiety, and a stronger tendency toward self-handicapping. In Sample 2, 48 procrastinators compared with 54 nonprocrastinators reported a weaker tendency toward seeking self-identity information but a stronger tendency toward a diffuse-identity style, yet there were no significant differences in verbal and abstract thinking abilities. Further research must provide evidence for persistent procrastination as a personality disorder that includes anxiety, avoidance, and a fear of evaluation of ability.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Does spousal participation in Gamblers Anonymous benefit compulsive gamblers?

Extent of gambling-free periods was compared for 90 compulsive gamblers, 44 with spouses who participated in Gamblers Anonymous and 46 with spouses who did not. Although the results were in the direction of a beneficial effect of spousal participation, the relationship was statistically nonsignificant.

Compulsive Behavior↗
PubMed2001

Compulsive checking and selective processing of threatening information.

Threatening stimuli are processed differently from neutral ones by anxious and obsessive-compulsive subjects. In the present research, processing of threatening words was compared with that of neutral words for two groups of Italian students, one with high mean and one with low mean score on Checking, a subscale of the Padua Inventory. Two tests were given, a computerized version of the emotional Stroop task and a later recognition test under incidental learning conditions. The expected interference effect on the Stroop task for those scoring high on Checking was confirmed. These results suggest an association between compulsive checking and bias in the first automatic stages of processing of threatening stimuli.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Psychometric properties of Spence and Robbins' measures of workaholism components.

There has been a recent increase in attention devoted to the study of workaholism. As with most new areas of study, issues of definition and measurement have not received their due. The present investigation examined some psychometric properties of Spence and Robbins' measures of the components of workaholism (1992), one of two measures that have received some attention. These measures were relatively stable in a sample of senior Norwegian managers (N = 87) over a 6-mo. period, had generally acceptable internal consistency reliability, and showed factor structures supportive of three components of workaholism.

Adult↗