Sensory Integration Capacity is Diminished in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Patients with Poor Insight But Not in Patients with Intact Insight
Stephanie Mueller *
Haptic Research Lab, Paul Flechsig Institution for Brain Research, University of Leipzig, Leipzig 04103, Germany
Katarina Stengler
Department of Psychiatry, University of Leipzig, Leipzig 04103, Germany
Ina Jahn
Department of Psychiatry, University of Leipzig, Leipzig 04103, Germany
Martin Grunwald
Haptic Research Lab, Paul Flechsig Institution for Brain Research, University of Leipzig, Leipzig 04103, Germany
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Aims: The aim of the present study was to assess sensory integration ability of OCD patients with poor and good insight using a Haptic Test for adults.
Study Design: Experimental design.
Place and Duration of Study: Department of Psychiatry, University of Leipzig, between October 2010 and Mai 2013
Methodology: Results of 23 OCD out patients (7 poor insight, 16 good insight) and 23 healthy control subjects, matched for age and sex were compared. Visual-haptic integration was measured using the Haptic Figures Test (HFT).
Results: The analysis showed significant differences between the groups in their number of errors (F (2,43) = 4.68, p<.05) and mean total exploration time (F (2,43) = 9.00, p<.005). Post hoc analyses revealed that OCD patients with poor insight made significantly more mistakes and used longer exploration times than OCD patients with good insight and healthy adults.
Conclusion: The results are indicative of the necessity to use differentiated analyses and group comparisons of patients with OCD. The striking results of OCD patients with poor insight may indicate a deficit in sensory integration especially for this subgroup.
Keywords: Obsessive compulsive disorder, anosognosia, sensory integration, haptic, tactile, exploration time