Patients suffering from obsessional personality disorder (anankasts) have been described as possessing 'superior memories', because of the detailed precision of their accounts. At the same time, such classical phenomena as doubt, checking and rumination imply faulty recall. This paradox is discussed, and some predictions drawn from a hypothesis regarding the cognitive charactteristics of obsessional disorder. Findings are presented which indicate that, by comparison with matched psychiatric controls, anankasts do not excel in the long-term recall of factual information or meaningful anecdotal material. But they show the following mnemonic features: (a) Superiority of immediate memory span, reflecting high levels of attention. (b) Superior recall of ambiguous anecdotal material, reflecting a tendency to the pointless 'rehearsal' of such material. (c) Weak redintegration in personal reminiscence. It is suggested that anankasts' doubts about their remembering refer not so much to the correctness of what is being recalled as to the quality of the recalling itself.

It is argued that obsessional indecision reflects a formal cognitive characteristic, and should therefore be detectable in slower performance of insignificant, neutral tasks. The obsessional will not be handicapped in structured tasks requiring concentration and a deductive approach, but he will be slower in less structured tasks requiring a predominantly inductive approach. Results from two neutral (numerical) tasks support the predictions.

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Obsessional-compulsive disorders have intrigued both theorists and clinicians for more than a century, but the problems involved continue to be intransigent and perplexing. They have not yielded satisfactorily to theoretical analyses from any of a variety of viewpoints. And, probably because of this, serious obsessional disorder is still notably resistant to remediation, presenting a notoriously difficult challenge for the clinician. The main purpose of this paper is to suggest that the time is ripe for a conceptual reanalysis which may yield a more productive approach to the clinical problems. After a brief review and discussion of obsessionality, a cognitive/ structural approach is outlined.