SACCADIC DISTRACTIBILITY IN COCAINE-DEPENDENT PATIENTS - A PRELIMINARY LABORATORY EXPLORATION OF THE COCAINE-OCD HYPOTHESIS

Epidemiologic Cachment Area Survey (ECAS) results suggest that cocaine abusing patients are at increased risk for the later development of O bsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and a need for attention in labora tory and clinical research to the 'cocaine-OCD hypothesis' has been de scribed. Analysis of the ECAS data, however, could not rule out the po ssibility of a 'distinctive OCD-like syndrome' related to cocaine use. Such an OCD-like syndrome in cocaine dependent individuals has been r ecently described, where some cocaine dependent patients compulsively forage for cocaine, especially after a cocaine binge. To further explo re a possible relationship between cocaine dependence and OCD, the per formance on an antisaccade task of 32 cocaine dependent individuals wa s compared to a group of 15 individuals without neuropsychiatric or su bstance abusing histories. OCD patients have been described as having a greater frequency of reflexive glances (i.e., increased saccadic dis tractibility) during the antisaccade task than normals. No statistical ly significant differences in antisaccade performance were observed be tween the cocaine dependent patients and a normal comparison group. Ho wever, when the cocaine using group was divided into those endorsing a nd those not endorsing significant cocaine-induced compulsive foraging , statistically significant differences emerged. Cocaine-induced compu lsive foragers had the poorest antisaccade performance. While the smal l sample sizes and the lack of an OCD control group limit the conclusi ons that can be drawn from the present study, the results seem to sugg est that a cocaine-OCD link might be particularly relevant for those c ocaine addicts endorsing compulsive foraging.