Motivation, Time Course, and Heterogeneity in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Response to Taylor, McKay, and Abramowitz (2005)

In response to commentary by S. Taylor, D. McKay, and J. S. Abramowitz (2005), the authors discuss the distinctive features of their theory of obsessive-compulsive disorder, which explains the disorder as a dysfunction of a security-motivation system. The authors address issues of the interrelation of emotion, cognition, and behavior in the disorder; starting versus stopping as the underlying dysfunctional problem; and the origins and possible significance of symptom heterogeneity in the disorder. In addition, the authors suggest various ways their theory of obsessive-compulsive disorder may be generative for future research.