Compulsions Developing into Command Hallucinations

F. Klemperer, Psychopathology, 1996, 29, 4, 249–51.

Abstract: Intrusive, uncontrollable and bizarre thoughts occur in both obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and psychosis. The origin of these mental phenomena and the relationship between them is unclear. A case is described in which long-standing compulsions and the associated resistance temporarily developed the characteristics of command hallucinations, in the absence of any other psychotic symptoms. The implications for psychopathological theories of hallucinations are discussed.