Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-1-1998
Publication Title
Journal of Anxiety Disorders
Abstract
Several types of beliefs have been hypothesized to be associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), including responsibility for harm, need to control thoughts, overestimates of threat, intolerance of uncertainty, and beliefs about the consequences of anxiety and capacity to cope. The present study compared 62 subjects with OCD, 45 with other anxiety disorders (AD) and 34 controls, using 3 measures of OCD-related beliefs. OCD subjects scored higher than AD and control samples on 2 general belief measures. A closer analysis of specific belief domains indicated that OCD subjects scored higher than AD and control subjects on all 6 specific belief domains (responsibility, control, estimation of threat, tolerance of uncertainty, beliefs about the consequences of anxiety, and the capacity to cope). Four of the 6 domains showed reasonable convergent and discriminant validity with measures of OCD symptoms compared to other psychopathology; anxiety and coping beliefs were the exceptions. In regression analyses, cognitive measures contributed significant explanatory power beyond mood state and worry with uncertainty predicting severity of OCD symptoms above all other belief domains. Further research on OCD-relevant belief domains in etiology, maintenance and treatment is warranted.
Volume
12
Issue
6
First Page
525
Last Page
537
DOI
10.1016/S0887-6185(98)00030-9
ISSN
08876185
Recommended Citation
Steketee, Gail; Frost, Randy O.; and Cohen, Iris, "Beliefs In Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder" (1998). Psychology: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/psy_facpubs/160
Comments
Archived as published. Open access paper.