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ENDGAMES: Obsessive-compulsive disorder BMJ 2009; 338: a3192 [Full text]

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Is this learning?

Steven Taylor   (8 January 2009)

Straightforward quiz question

JAGMOHAN SINGH   (31 January 2009)

Is this learning? 8 January 2009
Steven Taylor, Professor Dept of Psychiatry, Univ of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada Send response to journal: Re: Is this learning?	I'm surprised that all of the response options to the OCD CE question refer to "defense mechanisms." The explicit assumption is that this disorder is due to such mechanisms. There is no scientific evidence to support the role of such psychodynamic mechanisms in OCD. Surely questions based on contemporary knowledge of OCD (eg cognitive-behavioral and biological factors) would be better aids for learning. Was this CE question dug out from some 1960s vault? Competing interests: None declared
Straightforward quiz question 31 January 2009
JAGMOHAN SINGH, Forensic Psychiatry HMP Brixton Send response to journal: Re: Straightforward quiz question	Dear Prof Taylor, I think you might have missed a simple point. The OCD CE question is asking for the defence mechanism (magical thinking) that is seen in OCD amongst the others. I totally agree with you that there is a whole gamut of interwoven aetiology seen in OCD involving cognitive, bahavioural, psychodynamic and biological factors. Here the author has just touched on one amongst many! Competing interests: None declared