page_title: Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Photographic portrait of Sigmund Freud, signed by the sitter ("Prof. Sigmund Freud")
context_page_description: Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder is a cluster C personality disorder marked by an excessive need for orderliness, neatness, and perfectionism. Symptoms are usually present by the time a person reaches adulthood, and are visible in a variety of situations.
  The cause of OCPD is thought to involve a combination of genetic and environmental factors, namely problems with attachment.
  This is a distinct disorder from obsessive-compulsive disorder, and the relation between the two is contentious. Some studies have found high comorbidity rates between the two disorders but others have shown little comorbidity. Both disorders may share outside similarities; rigid and ritual-like behaviors, for example. Attitudes toward these behaviors differ between people affected with either of the disorders: for people with OCD, these behaviors are egodystonic; unwanted and involuntary, being the product of anxiety-inducing and involuntary thoughts. On the other hand, for people with OCPD, they are egosyntonic; the person perceives them as rational and wanted, being the result of, for example, strong adherence to routines, a desire for control, or a need for perfection.
context_section_description: In 1908, Sigmund Freud named what is now known as obsessive-compulsive or anankastic personality disorder "anal retentive character". He identified the main strands of the personality type as a preoccupation with orderliness, parsimony (frugality), and obstinacy (rigidity and stubbornness). The concept fits his theory of psychosexual development. Freud believed that the anal retentive character faced difficulties regulating the control of defecation, leading to repercussions by the parents, and it is the latter that would cause the anal retentive character. 
  Aubrey Lewis, in 1936, in his book Problems of Obsessional Illness, Lewis suggests that anal-erotic characteristics are found in patients without obsessive thoughts, and proposed two types of obsessional personality, one melancholy and stubborn, the other uncertain and indecisive.
  In the book Contributions to the theory of the anal character, Karl Abraham noted that the core feature of the anal character is being perfectionistic, and he believed that these traits will help an individual in becoming industrious and productive, whilst hindering their social and interpersonal functioning, such as working with others. 
  OCPD was included in the first edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1952 by the American Psychiatric Association under the name "compulsive personality". It was defined as a chronic and excessive preoccupation with adherence to rules and standards of conscience. Other symptoms included rigidity, overconscientiousness, and a reduced ability to relax.  
  The DSM-II (1968) changed the name to "obsessive-compulsive personality", and also suggested the term "anankastic personality" in order to reduce confusion between OCPD and OCD, but the proposed name was removed from later editions. The symptoms described in the DSM-II closely resembled those in the original DSM. 
  In 1980, the DSM-III was released, and it renamed the disorder back to "compulsive personality disorder", and also included new symptoms of the disorder: a restricted expression of affect, and an inability to delegate tasks. Devotion to productivity, perfectionism and indecisiveness were the other symptoms included. The DSM-III-R (1987) renamed the disorder again to "obsessive-compulsive personality disorder" and the name has remained since then. A diagnosis of OCPD was given when 5 of the 9 symptoms were met, and the 9 symptoms included perfectionism, preoccupation with details, an insistence that others submit to one's way, indecisiveness, devotion to work, restricted expression of affect, overconscientiousness, lack of generosity, and hoarding. 
  The current criteria in the DSM-5 have been carried over from the DSM-IV (1994), and the DSM-IV-TR (2000). 
  With DSM-IV, OCPD was classified as a 'Cluster C' personality disorder. There was a dispute about the categorization of OCPD as an Axis II anxiety disorder. Although the DSM-IV attempted to distinguish between OCPD and OCD by focusing on the absence of obsessions and compulsions in OCPD, OC personality traits are easily mistaken for abnormal cognitions or values considered to underpin OCD. The disorder is neglected and understudied area of research and further research is needed to conceptualise this disorder in a more concrete manner.
caption: Sigmund Freud, 1921
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