Gillan CM, Kalanthroff E, Evans M, et al. - In this cross-sectional study of 285 individuals diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), or both, experts investigated whether a self-reported compulsivity dimension has a stronger relationship with goal-directed and related higher-order cognitive deficiencies in comparison with a diagnosis of OCD. In contrast with GAD at baseline, the diagnosis of OCD was not related to goal-directed performance. Compulsivity dimension negatively related to goal-directed performance. Other symptom dimensions appropriate to OCD, obsessionality, and general distress had no substantial relationship with goal-directed performance, WCST, or abstract reasoning. Hence, in OCD, deficits in goal-directed planning may be more robustly related to a compulsivity dimension vs the OCD diagnosis. This finding may have indications for research evaluating the correlation between brain mechanisms and clinical indications and to understand the structure of mental illness.