Symposia
Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders
Sara Wilkerson, B.A., M.A.
Doctoral Student
Fordham University
New York, New York
Sara Wilkerson, B.A., M.A.
Doctoral Student
Fordham University
New York, New York
Dean McKay, ABPP, Ph.D.
Professor
Fordham University
Bronx, New York
Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a complex and heterogeneous condition that is associated with significant distress and impairment. This complexity is observed in the variety of symptom dimensions. Less examined are the varieties of emotional reactions associated with the condition. Though anxiety is typically understood as the primary emotion involved in OCD, research indicates that disgust and anger also play important roles. Given the clinical implications and limited available research, we investigated the nature of anger and disgust as they relate to the expression of various OC subscales.
Methods: Adults from a community sample (N = 1533; Mage = 32.60) completed an online survey via MTurk. The battery included measures of disgust (DPSS-R; van Overveld et al., 2006), anger (Dimensions of Anger Reactions (DAR; Novaco, 1975) and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCI-R; Foa et al., 2002). Measures to control for response sets and other validity indexes were included. Multiple linear regressions were conducted to examine the contribution of disgust and anger on obsessive-compulsive symptoms.
Results: Linear regressions were run assessing disgust and anger as predictors of checking, ordering, washing and obsessing symptoms. Increased levels of disgust are associated with increased checking (b=0.08, SE=0.01, t =12.58, p < .001), ordering (b=0.10, SE=0.01, t =13.17, p < .001), washing (b=0.09, SE=0.01, t =14.19, p < .001), and obsessing (b=0.07, SE=0.01, t =9.06, p < .001) behaviors. Increased levels of anger were associated with increased checking (b=0.27, SE=0.04, t =7.60, p < .001), ordering (b =0.23, SE=0.03, t =9.77, p < .001), washing (b =0.21, SE=0.03, t= 6.52, p < .001), and obsessing (b=0.32, SE=0.03, t = 9.77, p < .001) behaviors.
Discussion: This study provides preliminary support for associations among disgust, anger, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in a large community sample of adults. Further work is needed to evaluate the relationship between anger and disgust within individuals dealing with clinically significant obsessive-compulsive symptoms, as such work could have important implications for potential targets of treatment for individuals with OCD.