IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/matsoc/v55y2008i3p405-415.html

Obsessive-compulsive disorder and behavioral therapy: A rational-choice perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Yaniv, Gideon

Abstract

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental syndrome characterized by intrusive thoughts that trigger some repetitive action the individual feels driven to perform in order to relieve the anxiety engendered by the disturbing thoughts. A natural measure for the severity of OCD is the duration of the repetitive ritual. This paper presents a dynamic model of rational OCD that determines the optimal number of compulsory repetitions over the individual's lifecycle through the choice of therapy intensity. The analysis reveals that in the case of mild disorder, compulsory repetitions rise steadily along the rationally optimal trajectory. In the case of severe disorder, the rationally optimal trajectory is U-shaped, with compulsory repetitions declining for some time before turning around and rising again. Recent studies suggest, however, that the majority of patients experience a waning and waxing course of illness. In particular, symptoms are often worse during times of psychological stress. Incorporating stress into the model, the paper shows that a waning and waxing course may be the outcome of rational coping with the emergence of stress.

Suggested Citation

  • Yaniv, Gideon, 2008. "Obsessive-compulsive disorder and behavioral therapy: A rational-choice perspective," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 405-415, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:matsoc:v:55:y:2008:i:3:p:405-415
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165-4896(07)00099-6
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brian S. Ferguson, 2000. "Interpreting the rational addiction model," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 9(7), pages 587-598, October.
    2. Yaniv, Gideon, 1998. "Phobic disorder, psychotherapy, and risk-taking: an economic perspective," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 229-243, April.
    3. Levy, Amnon, 2002. "Rational eating: can it lead to overweightness or underweightness?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 887-899, September.
    4. Suranovic, Steven M. & Goldfarb, Robert S. & Leonard, Thomas C., 1999. "An economic theory of cigarette addiction," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 1-29, January.
    5. Gideon Yaniv, 2004. "Insomnia, biological clock, and the bedtime decision: an economic perspective," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, January.
    6. Becker, Gary S & Murphy, Kevin M, 1988. "A Theory of Rational Addiction," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(4), pages 675-700, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Liu, Yaqin & Ferreira, Susana & Colson, Gregory & Wetzstein, Michael, 2013. "Obesity and Counseling," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 149947, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Yaniv, Gideon, 2011. "Workaholism and marital estrangement: A rational-choice perspective," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 104-108, March.
    3. Hammar, Henrik & Carlsson, Fredrik, 2001. "Smokers' Decisions To Quit Smoking," Working Papers in Economics 59, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    4. Deluna, Roperto & maneja, Kimbely, 2015. "The Effect of Sin Tax and Anti-Smoking Campaign in Regulating Cigarette Smokers in Davao City, Philippines," MPRA Paper 68801, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Strulik, Holger, 2023. "Hooked on weight control: An economic theory of anorexia nervosa and its impact on health and longevity," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    6. Ida, Takanori & Goto, Rei & Takahashi, Yuko & Nishimura, Shuzo, 2011. "Can economic-psychological parameters predict successful smoking cessation?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 285-295, May.
    7. Badi H. Baltagi & Ingo Geishecker, 2006. "Rational alcohol addiction: evidence from the Russian longitudinal monitoring survey," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(9), pages 893-914, September.
    8. Anne Bretteville-Jensen, 2006. "Drug Demand – Initiation, Continuation and Quitting," De Economist, Springer, vol. 154(4), pages 491-516, December.
    9. DeCicca, Philip & Kenkel, Don & Mathios, Alan, 2008. "Cigarette taxes and the transition from youth to adult smoking: Smoking initiation, cessation, and participation," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 904-917, July.
    10. Jose Julian Escario & Jose Alberto Molina, 2001. "Testing for the rational addiction hypothesis in Spanish tobacco consumption," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(4), pages 211-215.
    11. Ziggy MacDonald, 2004. "What Price Drug Use? The Contribution of Economics to an Evidence‐Based Drugs Policy," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(2), pages 113-152, April.
    12. Marysia Ogrodnik, 2015. "An Economic Model of the Stages of Addictive Consumption," Post-Print halshs-01224553, HAL.
    13. D. Dragone & D. Raggi, 2018. "Testing Rational Addiction: When Lifetime is Uncertain, One Lag is Enough," Working Papers wp1119, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    14. Zaifu Yang & Rong Zhang, 2014. "Rational Addictive Behavior under Uncertainty," Discussion Papers 14/12, Department of Economics, University of York.
    15. Fernando S. Machado & Rajiv K. Sinha, 2007. "Smoking Cessation: A Model of Planned vs. Actual Behavior for Time-Inconsistent Consumers," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(6), pages 834-850, 11-12.
    16. Yaniv, Gideon, 2002. "Non-adherence to a low-fat diet: an economic perspective," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 93-104, May.
    17. Sophie Massin, 2011. "La notion d'addiction en économie : La théorie du choix rationnel à l'épreuve," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 121(5), pages 713-750.
    18. Nathalie Mathieu‐Bolh, 2022. "The elusive link between income and obesity," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 935-968, September.
    19. Levy, Amnon, 2007. "A theoretical analysis of rational diet of healthy and junk foods," Economics Working Papers wp07-01, School of Economics, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
    20. Levy, Amnon, 2003. "A Theory of LTR Junk-food Consumption," Economics Working Papers wp03-06, School of Economics, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:matsoc:v:55:y:2008:i:3:p:405-415. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505565 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.