Differences in obsessional beliefs and emotion appraisal in obsessive compulsive symptom presentation

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a heterogeneous condition with symptom presentation that includes contamination, harm, unacceptable thoughts, and symmetry. Researchers have begun to examine the ideographic nature of OCD symptoms to aid the development of specialized treatment approaches. Obsessional beliefs are often implicated in the development and maintenance of the disorder; however, much of the variance in symptom severity is not accounted for by these beliefs. Less attention has been paid to the role of emotions in OCD, and to date, no study has investigated beliefs about emotions (i.e., emotion appraisal) in clinical samples of OCD. In the present study, 44 participants were recruited from residential and intensive outpatient facilities and private practitioners specializing in OCD treatment. Participants completed measures of OCD severity, obsessional beliefs and emotion appraisal. Results indicated that both obsessional beliefs and emotion appraisal were correlated with each of the symptom presentations to varying degrees, and severity in each of the subtypes was predicted by a different model. Implications for cognitive and emotional conceptualizations of OCD are discussed.