Self-reported psychotic-like experiences in individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder versus schizophrenia patients: Characteristics and moderation role of trait anxiety

Psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) have been found to manifest themselves on a continuum spanning both the general and clinical populations. Despite robust evidence that anxiety disorders are associated with increased risk of PLEs, little is known about their characteristics in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Therefore, this study aimed to explore the phenomenological similarities and differences of PLEs in OCD versus schizophrenia patients and healthy controls, and to test the impact of distress symptomatology on PLEs in OCD patients. The survey included the Peter et al. Delusion Inventory, the Launay–Slade Hallucinations Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory II, the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and measures of severity of OCD and schizophrenia symptoms. Considering the clinical groups as a whole, few differences were found for both delusions and hallucination-like experiences. Nevertheless, after controlling for emotional distress differences between OCD and schizophrenia patients in some PLEs became significant. Moreover, obsessive symptoms moderated by anxiety trait predicted levels of delusion-like experiences in OCD patients. This study highlights PLEs are also present in OCD patients, in particularly in presence of higher emotional distress and that anxiety trait plays a relevant role in the development and maintenance of delusion-like experiences in OCD patients.