Obsessive—Compulsive Personality Disorder: A Review of Available Data and Recommendations for DSM-IV

TheDiagnostic and StatisticalManual ofMental Disorders. Third Edition, Revised (DSM-III-R) criteria for obsessivecompulsive personality disorder (OCPD) represent an attempt to capture a historical concept whose im plications and validity are largely unknown. The modern roots of OCPD go back at least as far as Freud, who described the anal character type. In his classic 1908 paper, Freud outlined the anal character as arising from a defense against anal eroticism and described such individuals as "orderly, parsimonious and obstinate. . Orderly covers the notion of bodily cleanliness, as well as conscientiousness in carrying out small duties and trustworthiness. . . . Parsimony may [include] . . . avarice; and obstina cy can go over into defiance, to which rage and revengefulness are easily joined" (Freud, 1908/1959, p. 169). In 1921 Abraham developed this concept further with a rich description of character traits that have been concisely summarized in a review by Oldham and Frosch (1988):