Abstract

Objectives: This study was designed to examine the changes in the diagnosis of personality disorders of obsessive-compulsive patients following a pharmacological treatment.

Method: In a quasi-experimental design, 30 obsessive-compulsive patients (15 with and 15 without personality disorders) selected from an available sample, received pharmaceutical treatment for a period of three months. The tools used for this study included a demographic questionnaire, Hamilton Rating Depression Scale, Yale-Brown Obsessive-compulsive Scale, and MCMI-II. The subjects were matched in term of variables affecting treatment. The data were analyzed through a t-test, X², Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon statistical methods.

Findings:  No significant difference was found in the number of personality disorders diagnosed before and after treatment in either group of obsessive-compulsive patients (with and without personality disorders). However, as a result of a personality trait comparison, a significant difference was indicated between the aforementioned groups before and after treatment.

Results: Pharmaceutical treatment is more likely effective in bringing about changes in personality traits of obsessive-compulsive patients. Such an impact is either influential in alteration of the ways by which this illness is manifested or by affecting personality traits directly.