The causes and consequences of shame in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Research into the aetiology, maintenance, and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has largely been informed by models of anxiety. However, non-experimental research suggests that some individuals may engage in compulsions to neutralise shame, with repugnant obsessions associated with more shame than other obsessions. Violent and sexual obsessions and shame have been linked with poorer treatment outcomes, and thus, treatment modifications are needed.

How do examiners decide?: a qualitative study of the process of decision making in the oral examination component of the MRCGP examination.

Objective: To determine how examiners make decisions about candidates in the oral examination for membership in the Royal College of General Practitioners.

Design: Qualitative research using interpersonal process recall interviews with oral examiners immediately following examination of an Medical Research Council General Practitioner (MRCGP) candidate.

Setting: Summer 1999 sessions of the MRCGP examination in Edinburgh and London.