Responsibility, metacognition and unrealistic pessimism in obsessive-compulsive disorder

► The relevance of responsibility and metacognition for OCD awaits clarification. ► An unrealistic pessimism or attenuated unrealistic optimism might be present in OCD. ► Responsibility significantly predicts OC symptoms after controlling for metacognition. ► Participants with OCD show an unrealistic pessimism in both implicit and explicit comparisons.