CUES TO OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE SYMPTOMS - RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS

The waxing and waning of symptoms in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OC D) suggests that environmental cues may impact on exacerbations of thi s disorder. Eighty-one Ss with OCD completed the Cues Checklist (CCL; Mackenzie, Ristvedt, Christenson, Lebow & Mitchell, 1992), a 339-item checklist of rationally-derived cues and circumstances that might be e xpected to elicit or worsen symptoms. Principal components analysis re vealed four components: household order and organization, contaminatio n and cleaning, negative affect, and prevention of harm and checking. Total number of cues endorsed and component scores were correlated wit h other characteristics of the disorder, and with the presence of othe r Axis I and II disorders. Patterns of cue endorsement related to stan dard measures of obsessive-compulsive content but not to symptom sever ity. Early-onset Ss endorsed a greater number of cues. History of depr ession, anxiety disorders and Axis II pathology related most strongly to scores on the negative affect component. The values and limitations of this approach are discussed.