Obsessive Beliefs in Youth With OCD and Their Mothers

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 187-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley S. Pietrefesa ◽  
Casey A. Schofield ◽  
Stephen P. Whiteside ◽  
Ingrid Sochting ◽  
Meredith E. Coles
Keyword(s):  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Obsessive Beliefs ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Pediatric Ocd ◽  
Compulsive Behaviors ◽  
Adolescents And Adults ◽  
Genetic And Environmental Factors ◽  
And Control ◽  
Control Of Thoughts

The current study builds from mounting support for a role of OCD-related beliefs in pediatric OCD and evidence suggesting a role of both genetic and environmental factors in conferring risk for obsessive-compulsive behaviors. Specifically, data are presented examining the correspondence in OCD-related beliefs in 28 youth with OCD and their mothers. Findings showed a significant, moderate, positive correlation between youth and their mothers’ beliefs regarding inflated perceptions of personal responsibility and the likelihood of threat. However, perfectionism and certainty beliefs were not significantly correlated across generations, and beliefs regarding the importance and control of thoughts were negatively correlated in youth with OCD and their mothers. These initial findings are consistent with previous studies from unselected adolescents and adults with OCD and their relatives in suggesting that familial loading may be particularly strong for responsibility and threat beliefs.

Do you believe in magical thinking? Examining magical thinking as a mediator between obsessive-compulsive belief domains and symptoms

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 454-462
Author(s):  
Robert E. Fite ◽  
Sarah L. Adut ◽  
Joshua C. Magee
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Indirect Effect ◽  
Clinical Samples ◽  
Magical Thinking ◽  
Obsessive Beliefs ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Inflated Responsibility ◽  
And Control ◽  
Control Of Thoughts

AbstractBackground:Despite substantial research attention on obsessive beliefs, more research is needed to understand how these beliefs serve as aetiological or maintaining factors for obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms. Magical thinking may allow individuals to gain a sense of control when experiencing intrusive thoughts and corresponding obsessive beliefs, potentially accounting for why OC belief domains are often related to OC symptoms.Aims:This study examines magical thinking as a mediating variable in the relationship between OC belief domains and symptoms.Method:Undergraduate students (n = 284) reported their obsessive beliefs, magical thinking, and OC symptoms.Results:As expected, there were significant indirect effects for the belief domain of inflated responsibility and over-estimation of threat on OC symptoms via magical thinking. There was also an indirect effect for the belief domain of importance and control of thoughts on OC symptoms via magical thinking. Unexpectedly, there was no indirect effect involving the belief domain of perfectionism and intolerance of uncertainty.Conclusions:Magical thinking may be one mechanism through which certain OC beliefs lead to OC symptoms. It may be that magical thinking serves as a coping mechanism in response to elevated beliefs. Future studies should extend these findings across time and clinical samples.

Cognitive Treatment for OCD

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maureen L. Whittal ◽  
Melisa Robichaud
Keyword(s):  
Term Treatment ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Cognitive Treatment ◽  
Long Term Treatment ◽  
Inflated Responsibility ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Control Of Thoughts

The cornerstone of cognitive treatment (CT) for OCD is based upon the knowledge that unwanted intrusions are essentially a universal experience. As such, it is not the presence of the intrusion that is problematic but rather the associated meaning or interpretation. Treatment is flexible, depending upon the nature of the appraisals and beliefs, but can include strategies focused on inflated responsibility and overestimation of threat, importance and control of thoughts, and the need for perfectionism and certainty. The role of concealment and the relationship to personal values are important maintaining and etiological factors. The short-term and long-term treatment outcome is reviewed, along with predictors of treatment response and mechanisms of action, and the chapter concludes with future directions regarding CT for OCD.

Parenting and Obsessive Compulsive Symptoms: Implications of Authoritarian Parenting

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 151-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiara R. Timpano ◽  
Meghan E. Keough ◽  
Brittain Mahaffey ◽  
Norman B. Schmidt ◽  
Jonathan Abramowitz
Keyword(s):  
Parenting Style ◽  
Parenting Styles ◽  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Obsessive Beliefs ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Strict Adherence ◽  
Authoritarian Parenting ◽  
Compulsive Disorder

Cognitive behavioral theories of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have hypothesized a central role of social learning in the development of OCD. Research indicates that learning via key developmental relationships, such as parent–child interactions, may account for the emergence and maintenance of OC symptoms in adulthood. Baumrind identified three parental authority prototypes or styles, including permissive, authoritative, and authoritarian, that differ on the two dimensions of nurture and behavioral control. Permissive parents allow their children to do as they wish with little discipline, whereas authoritative parents implement reasonable guidelines while still providing a warm and nurturing environment. The third style, authoritarian, represents parenting that is rigid and values strict adherence to rules with lower levels of nurturing. To date, there has been no study examining these parenting styles and OCD symptomatology. The current investigation examined the relationships between parenting styles, obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms, and OC-related dysfunctional beliefs (i.e., “obsessive beliefs”) in a nonclinical sample (N = 227). Participants completed measures of these constructs, as well as a measure of general mood and anxiety symptoms. Results indicated that the authoritarian parenting style was significantly associated with both OC symptoms and OC beliefs (e.g., beliefs about the importance of thoughts and personal responsibility), even after controlling for general distress. Analyses also revealed that OC beliefs act as a partial mediator of the relationship between parenting style and OC symptoms. Findings are discussed in light of the implications for future research, particularly that pertaining to risk for OCD and the development of vulnerability factors.

scholarly journals Conceptualizing and managing risk in pediatric OCD: Case examples

2020 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Lewis ◽  
Caroline Stokes ◽  
Isobel Heyman ◽  
Cynthia Turner ◽  
Georgina Krebs
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Decision Making ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Case Examples ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Pediatric Ocd ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Compulsive Behaviors ◽  
Current Article ◽  
Managing Risk

It is not uncommon for patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) to present with symptoms that suggest possible risk. This can include apparent risk, which reflects the content of obsessional fears, and genuine risk arising as the unintended consequence of compulsive behaviors. In both situations, risk can cause confusion in relation to diagnosis and treatment. The current article adds to the small existing literature on risk in OCD by presenting case examples illustrating different types of risk in the context of pediatric OCD, along with a discussion of their implications for management. The cases highlight that it is crucial that risk in OCD is considered carefully within the context of the phenomenology of the disorder. Guidance is offered to support clinical decision making and treatment planning.

scholarly journals Categorization in ASD: The Role of Typicality and Development

2012 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 66-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly Zajac Gastgeb ◽  
Mark S. Strauss
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Object Category ◽  
Adolescents And Adults ◽  
Category Labels ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Typical Object ◽  
And Control ◽  
Adults With Asd

There is a growing amount of evidence suggesting that individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) differ in the way in which they cognitively process information. A critical aspect of cognitive processing that is receiving more attention in studies of ASD is categorization. The studies presented here examined the effect of typicality on categorization of objects and gender in high-functioning children, adolescents, and adults with ASD and matched controls. The ASD and control groups showed improved categorization throughout the lifespan for typical and somewhat typical object category members and typical gender faces. However, individuals with ASD took more time to categorize atypical object category members and were less accurate in categorizing atypical gender faces from age 8–12 years through adulthood. We will discuss the implications of these results for teaching categories and category labels to individuals with ASD.

Cognitive Change During Treatment of Compulsive Checking

2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 172-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah M. Overton ◽  
Ross G. Menzies
Keyword(s):  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽  
Cognitive Change ◽  
Symptom Improvement ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Cognitive Domains ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Compulsive Checking ◽  
Compulsive Behaviour

AbstractCognitive variables hypothesised to be mediating obsessive—compulsive behaviour include an overestimation of the probability and consequences of danger, a sense of overinflated personal responsibility for harm to oneself or others, a belief in the overimportance of thoughts, a lack of confidence in memory, an intolerance of uncertainty and a need to control thoughts. In the present study, the relationship between these variables and improvement in OCD symptoms was examined. Fourteen obsessive—compulsives with checking concerns completed a 12-session treatment program of exposure and response prevention (ERP). Before and after treatment, subjects completed the Maudsley Obsessional-Compulsive Inventory (MOCI) and a self-rating of severity (SER), and each week they completed the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS) and answered seven questions that were used to rate their beliefs in the six cognitive domains outlined above. Changes in perception of danger, intolerance of uncertainty and need to control thoughts all correlated significantly with improvement in symptoms. Moreover, significant changes in these variables occurred immediately prior to or concurrent with major symptom improvement, supporting the possibility that they are mediators of the disorder. Changes in ratings of responsibility, overimportance of thoughts and confidence in memory were not related to improvements in compulsive checking on any scale and, in the case of responsibility, ratings actually increased (i.e., worsened) in the week prior to major improvement in symptoms. For most subjects, major reductions in responsibility ratings only took place after symptom reduction. The implications of these findings for the role of these variables in mediating obsessive—compulsive checking are discussed.

scholarly journals Cognitive and Clinical Characteristics of Sexual and Religious Obsessions

2011 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 167-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jedidiah Siev ◽  
Gail Steketee ◽  
Jeanne M. Fama ◽  
Sabine Wilhelm
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Clinical Characteristics ◽  
Cognitive Styles ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Schizotypal Personality ◽  
Compulsive Disorder ◽  
Inflated Responsibility ◽  
Maladaptive Beliefs ◽  
And Control ◽  
Control Of Thoughts

Sexual and religious obsessions are often grouped together as unacceptable thoughts, symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) hypothesized to be maintained by maladaptive beliefs about the importance and control of thoughts. Although there is empirical justification for this typology, there are several reasons to suspect that sexual and religious obsessions may differ with respect to associated obsessional beliefs and personality traits. In this study, we examined the associations between sexual and religious obsessions (separately) and (a) putatively obsessional cognitive styles, especially beliefs about the importance and control of thoughts, and responsibility; (b) obsessive-compulsive personality traits; and (c) schizotypal personality traits. Whereas sexual obsessions were predicted only by increased beliefs about the importance and control of thoughts, and contamination obsessions were predicted only by inflated responsibility appraisals and threat estimation, religious obsessions were independently predicted by both of these constructs. In addition, only religious obsessions were related to self-reported obsessive-compulsive personality traits. Researchers and clinicians should be cognizant of potentially important distinctions between sexual and religious obsessions, and the possibility that scrupulous OCD shares processes with both autogenous and reactive presentations.

scholarly journals Adolescents Talking about Personal Responsibility

2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dr Amanda Mergler ◽  
Prof Wendy Patton
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
White Middle Class ◽  
And Control

The role of personal responsibility in the lives of adolescents remains a largely overlooked area in the psychological and educational fields. The present study used focus groups of 20 white, middle-class adolescents to examine how they understand and integrate the notion of personal responsibility into their lives. Key themes, including awareness of thoughts and feelings, behavioural choices and control, and consideration of consequences were found to be important components of the personal responsibility variable. Interesting gender differences were noted, with females and males identifying different emotions as being within or outside their control, and only females said that concern for the feelings of others was a major factor in decision-making. The key themes served to generate parameters with which to define the personal responsibility variable.

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