Repetitive Thoughts and Repetitive Behaviors in Williams Syndrome

John C Huston; Robyn P Thom; Caitlin T Ravichandran; Jennifer E Mullett; Carly Moran; Jessica L Waxler; Barbara R Pober; Christopher J McDougle

doi:10.1007/s10803-021-04979-w

Repetitive Thoughts and Repetitive Behaviors in Williams Syndrome

J Autism Dev Disord. 2022 Feb;52(2):852-862. doi: 10.1007/s10803-021-04979-w. Epub 2021 Apr 10.

Authors

John C Huston^#^{1

2}, Robyn P Thom^#^{2

3

4}, Caitlin T Ravichandran^{2

3

4

5}, Jennifer E Mullett^{2

3}, Carly Moran², Jessica L Waxler³, Barbara R Pober^{3

6}, Christopher J McDougle^{7

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Internal Medicine, Yale Medical School, 333 Cedar St, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA.
² Lurie Center for Autism, 1 Maguire Road, Lexington, MA, 02421, USA.
³ Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit St, Boston, MA, 02114, USA.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck St, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
⁵ McLean Hospital, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA, 02478, USA.
⁶ Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck St, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
⁷ Lurie Center for Autism, 1 Maguire Road, Lexington, MA, 02421, USA. cmcdougle@mgh.harvard.edu.
⁸ Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit St, Boston, MA, 02114, USA. cmcdougle@mgh.harvard.edu.
⁹ Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck St, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. cmcdougle@mgh.harvard.edu.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 33837487
DOI: 10.1007/s10803-021-04979-w

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to characterize repetitive phenomena in Williams syndrome (WS). The parents of 60 subjects with WS completed the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) or Children's Y-BOCS, the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale, the Stereotyped Behavior Scale, and the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale-Parent Version. Nineteen males and 41 females participated in the study. Six subjects (10%) had obsessions only, six (10%) had compulsions only, and eleven (18%) had at least one obsession and at least one compulsion. None of the subjects had tics. Fifty subjects (83.3%) endorsed at least one stereotypy. Increased anxiety was associated with increased severity of obsessions, but not severity of compulsions or stereotypies.

Keywords: Compulsion; Obsession; Repetitive; Stereotypy; Tic; Williams syndrome.

MeSH terms

Autism Spectrum Disorder*
Child
Female
Humans
Male
Obsessive Behavior / diagnosis
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder* / diagnosis
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder* / epidemiology
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Severity of Illness Index
Tics*
Williams Syndrome*