The first two editions of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Disorders in 1952 and 1968 presented unspecific and brief definitions about the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Only after the third edition in 1980 more accurate diagnostic criteria about its symptoms were defined. Although the knowledge about the disorders has improved by the studies, the scientific literature has had difficulties to follow up all its particularities. The behavior analysis has been the approach which has contributed most to this disorder treatment and comprehension, although it has also suffered the same problems. The goal established in this paper was to analyze a case of a client by the radical behaviorism approach. From this case analysis, a hypothesis was raised about the distal events involved in the behavior conditioning related this disorder. It was possible to conclude that the installation of the client's obsessive-compulsive behavior can be justified by operant and respondent conditionings.
behavior analysis; anxiety; psychiatry; obsessive-compulsive disorder