Relationship between early maladaptive schemas and symptom dimensions in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder

The aims of this study were to evaluate early maladaptive schemas (EMSs) of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and to clarify relationships between particular EMSs and the five factor-analyzed symptom dimensions and other clinical variables. Fifty-seven patients with OCD and 70 normal controls completed the Young Schema Questionnaire, the Yale–Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y–BOCS), the Y–BOCS symptom checklist, and the Beck Depression Inventory. Patients with OCD had significantly higher scores for schema related to defectiveness/shame, social isolation/alienation, and failure than did normal controls. Among the five OCD symptom dimensions, the sexual/religious dimension was only significantly correlated with two schemas of vulnerability to harm or illness and enmeshment/undeveloped self. These two schemas were significant predictors of the sexual/religious dimension, accounting for 33% of the total variance in this dimension. Any EMSs in patients with OCD were not related to clinical variables such as severity of OCD and duration of illness. These findings may constitute evidence to improve our understandings of OCD from a perspective of schema theory.