Obsessive and compulsive symptoms in schizophrenia clinical and neurocognitive correlates

Although research suggests that the presence of obsessive and compulsive sy mptoms in schizophrenia is associated with graver levels of psychosocial dy sfunction, it is unclear whether it is also related to clinical features of illness. Accordingly the present study compared the symptom levels and neu rocognitive function of participants with schizophrenia who had and did not have significant obsessive or compulsive symptoms. Analyses of variance re vealed that participants with significant levels of either obsessive or com pulsive symptoms (N = 21) had higher levels of positive and emotional disco mfort symptoms on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and perf ormed more poorly on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, a measure of executiv e function, than participants without obsessions or compulsions (N = 25). A NCOVAs controlling for level of obsessions also revealed that participants with significant levels of compulsions (N = 12) in particular had higher le vels of negative and positive symptoms on the PANSS than participants witho ut compulsions (N = 34). The impact of obsessive-compulsive phenomena on th e course and outcome of schizophrenia is discussed.