Comparison of the Severity of Obsession and Working Memory in Children with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Healthy Children

Background: obsessive-compulsive disorder (ocd) is a heterogeneous condition with distinct subtypes. this study aims to compare the severity of obsession and working memory in children with obsessive compulsive disorder and healthy children. materials and methods: in this correlation-comparative study, 140 students (70 healthy and 70 with ocd, diagnosed according to obsessive-compulsive inventory, child-version score) were selected through simple random sampling method in in tehran, iran, (2018-19). the multistage cluster sampling method was applied. the subjects were selected after purposeful clinical evaluation and according to the qualifications of the study. assessments were made using the obsessive-compulsive inventory, child-version (oci – cv), and the working memory rating scale (wmrs). data were analyzed using spss software version 25.0. results: a total of 80 girls and 60 boys with a mean age of 9 ±1.36 years were studied. the correlation between working memory and obsessive-compulsive disorder of girls and boys (r= -0.482; p =0.001) at the level of p <0.05 was significant. the results showed that there was a significant relationship between working memory and obsessive-compulsive disorder in girls and boys. the results of the mean and sd of the working memory in healthy children and patients were (177.24± 11.02), and (171.11± 8.08), respectively. the mean of the severity of obsession in healthy children and patients were (12.07± 3.97) and (9.98± 3.73), respectively. conclusion: the findings showed that the working memory scores in both girls and boys increased by reducing the obsessive-compulsive disorder accompanied. moreover, the working memory of the healthy group was higher than that of the patients.