Problems with stimulus/response equivalence and reactivity in the assessment and treatment of obsessive-compulsive neurosis

Self-recording was used as part of a comprehensive package of interventions to treat a case of obsessive-compulsive neurosis. The discrepancy between the self-recording data and other indices of improvement provoked consideration of the value of self-monitoring in light of Rachman's (1976) typology of obsessive-compulsives and the three major theoretical explanations of the reactivity of self-monitoring (Nelson and Hayes, 1981). It is hypothesized that self-monitoring may be countertherapeutic and misleading when there is stimulus/response equivalence or a checker type of obsessive-compulsive client.