Exploring the Association Between Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms and Loneliness: Consideration of Specificity and Gender

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 264-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiara R. Timpano ◽  
Demet Çek ◽  
Liza M. Rubenstein ◽  
Dennis Murphy ◽  
Norman B. Schmidt

Loneliness, or perceived social isolation, is associated with a range of adverse physical and emotional outcomes. In particular, feeling lonely has been linked with anxiety, anger, stress, and depressive symptoms. Although loneliness has been extensively investigated with respect to depression and social anxiety, few studies have considered the relationship between loneliness and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS). Loneliness may be particularly relevant to OCS given the social stigma associated with obsessions and compulsions along with high comorbidity between OCS and depression. The overarching aim of this investigation was to examine the relationship between OCS and loneliness in a young adult sample (N = 395) recruited from a large university. Participants completed self-report measures of OCS, loneliness, depression, and social anxiety. Higher levels of OCS were associated with greater perceived loneliness, and this relationship remained significant despite controlling for depression and social anxiety. OCS had a significant association with the isolation facet of loneliness, and loneliness in turn was uniquely associated with obsessions and checking symptoms. Gender differences were examined, which indicated that females with high OCS endorsed the greatest levels of loneliness. Implications for clinical research and treatment are discussed.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis-Joaquin Garcia-Lopez ◽  
Lourdes Espinosa-Fernandez ◽  
Jose-Antonio Muela-Martinez ◽  
Jose Antonio Piqueras

Despite the availability of efficacious treatment and screening protocols, social anxiety disorder (SAD) in adolescents is considerably under-detected and undertreated. Our main study objective was to examine a brief, valid, and reliable social anxiety measure already tested to serve as self-report child measure but administered via Internet aimed at listening to the ability of his or her parent to identify social anxiety symptomatology in his or her child. This parent version could be used as a complementary measure to avoid his or her overestimation of children of social anxiety symptomatology using traditional self-reported measures. We examined the psychometric properties of brief and valid social anxiety measure in their parent format and administered via the Internet. The sample included 179 parents/legal guardians of adolescents (67% girls) with a clinical diagnosis of SAD (mean age: 14.27; SD = 1.33). Findings revealed good factor structure, internal consistency, and construct validity. Data support a single, strength-based factor on the SPAIB-P, being structure largely invariant across age and gender. The limited number of adolescents with a performance-only specifier prevented examining the utility of scale to screen for this recently established specifier. It is crucial to evaluate if these results generalize to different cultures and community samples. The findings suggest that the SPAIB-P evidences performance comparable with child-reported measure. Parents can be reliable reports of the social anxiety symptomatology of the adolescent. The SPAIB-P may be useful for identifying clinically disturbed socially anxious adolescents.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania Moretta ◽  
Giulia Buodo

We investigated the relationships and diagnostic power of symptoms associated with affective disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and drug addictions on Internet use disorder. Moreover, we tested whether Internet use disorder is characterized by a specific network of symptoms. One-hundred-and-four young adults (78 women) were assessed in laboratory using self-report measures of Internet addiction, alcohol use disorder, cannabis abuse, depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms, impulsiveness, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Only hoarding, obsessing, and depression symptoms were positively linked to Internet use disorder severity, with hoarding having greater power and accuracy than other obsessive-compulsive and affective symptoms. Only individuals with mild-moderate Internet use disorder were characterized by a network of strong and positive associations of affective and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. These findings may encourage future longitudinal studies aimed at identifying potential clinical criteria for the diagnosis of Internet use disorder and treatment targets.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
John Paulson

Previous research has documented similarities between symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Anorexia Nervosa, and Bulimia Nervosa and elevated comorbidity between these conditions in clinical samples, with the relationship between OCD and Anorexia being stronger than between OCD and Bulimia. Researchers adopting a continuum view of psychopathology have also found that individuals with sub-clinical expressions of obsessive-compulsive symptoms resemble their clinical counterparts in several ways. The goal of the current study was to explore whether or not the observed relationship between obsessive-compulsive symptoms and eating disorder symptoms observed in clinical populations would also be observed in a nonclinical population. 264 participants from a college sample completed self-report measures of these symptoms. A positive correlation was found between scores on obsessive-compulsive, anorexia and bulimia instruments, and reflective of their clinical counterparts the relationship between obsessive-compulsive and anorexia symptoms was more significant than the one between obsessive compulsive symptoms and bulimia symptoms. Implications and limitations for research and clinical practice are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kirsty Jane Fraser

<p>The aim of the current research was to investigate the presence and roles of inflated responsibility and thought-action fusion in psychopathology. The three underlying research themes were to examine the relationship between thought-action fusion and inflated responsibility, the roles that they play in psychopathology, and the possible etiology of these types of beliefs. It is proposed that these responsibility beliefs are not specific to obsessive compulsive disorder, as commonly assumed, and that they play important roles in the maintenance of a range of psychological symptoms. This thesis presents the results of four studies. The first study was designed to investigate the presence of Thought-Action Fusion (TAF) and Inflated Responsibility (IR) alongside symptoms of depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, with thought suppression playing an intermediary role. Study 2 examined the interaction between responsibility beliefs and locus of control on obsessive-compulsive symptoms with non-clinical and clinical participants. The third study focussed on the etiology of responsibility beliefs, taking Salkovskis, Shafran, Rachman, and Freeston’s (1999) theory of Pathways to Inflated Responsibility and empirically testing this with both clinical and non-clinical samples. Study 4 focussed on the relationship between responsibility beliefs and religiosity, using participants of Protestant Christian beliefs and Atheists. These studies collectively show that Thought-Action Fusion and Inflated Responsibility are both important and contributing factors in psychopathology, especially playing a part in the maintenance of symptoms and feelings of distress. Results indicated that while TAF tends to be specific to obsessive compulsive symptoms, IR is more of a general cognitive bias. Results also indicate that critical experiences in one’s life can lead to biases in responsibility beliefs. Additionally, results show that these biases are not always indicative of psychopathology when they are acceptable within a particular set of morals, for example religion. These findings are of both theoretical and clinical significance because they add to the growing understanding of TAF and IR in psychopathology. The current research was conducted with observational, self-report measures; further research using longitudinal studies is needed for more clarity on causality.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kirsty Jane Fraser

<p>The aim of the current research was to investigate the presence and roles of inflated responsibility and thought-action fusion in psychopathology. The three underlying research themes were to examine the relationship between thought-action fusion and inflated responsibility, the roles that they play in psychopathology, and the possible etiology of these types of beliefs. It is proposed that these responsibility beliefs are not specific to obsessive compulsive disorder, as commonly assumed, and that they play important roles in the maintenance of a range of psychological symptoms. This thesis presents the results of four studies. The first study was designed to investigate the presence of Thought-Action Fusion (TAF) and Inflated Responsibility (IR) alongside symptoms of depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, with thought suppression playing an intermediary role. Study 2 examined the interaction between responsibility beliefs and locus of control on obsessive-compulsive symptoms with non-clinical and clinical participants. The third study focussed on the etiology of responsibility beliefs, taking Salkovskis, Shafran, Rachman, and Freeston’s (1999) theory of Pathways to Inflated Responsibility and empirically testing this with both clinical and non-clinical samples. Study 4 focussed on the relationship between responsibility beliefs and religiosity, using participants of Protestant Christian beliefs and Atheists. These studies collectively show that Thought-Action Fusion and Inflated Responsibility are both important and contributing factors in psychopathology, especially playing a part in the maintenance of symptoms and feelings of distress. Results indicated that while TAF tends to be specific to obsessive compulsive symptoms, IR is more of a general cognitive bias. Results also indicate that critical experiences in one’s life can lead to biases in responsibility beliefs. Additionally, results show that these biases are not always indicative of psychopathology when they are acceptable within a particular set of morals, for example religion. These findings are of both theoretical and clinical significance because they add to the growing understanding of TAF and IR in psychopathology. The current research was conducted with observational, self-report measures; further research using longitudinal studies is needed for more clarity on causality.</p>


2021 ◽  
pp. 216770262199386
Author(s):  
Asher Y. Strauss ◽  
Isaac Fradkin ◽  
Jonathan D. Huppert

Experiencing doubt in an uncertain situation has been theorized to be an antecedent of compulsive checking. However, whether and when obsessive compulsive (OC) symptoms are associated with experiencing doubt and increased checking is unclear. In this study, we investigated the relationship between OC symptoms, the experience of doubt, and checking in a tone-discrimination task. Doubt was measured using mouse tracking, an indirect, unobtrusive measure. The results of two studies ( N = 119) showed that OC symptoms were associated with elevated experiences of doubt when uncertainty was low. However, OC symptoms were not associated with increased checking, but doubt was. Results highlight the utility of mouse-tracking measures to capture the tendency of individuals with OC symptoms to experience doubt even under neutral conditions. The unexpected null results concerning checking suggest some specific directions for research to determine the conditions under which doubt evolves into checking in obsessive compulsive disorder.


2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 296-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abbas Abdollahi ◽  
Mansor Abu Talib ◽  
Mohammad Reza Vakili Mobarakeh ◽  
Vahid Momtaz ◽  
Roya Kavian Mobarake

1993 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally A. White

The Psychological Skills Inventory for Sport (PSIS; Mahoney, 1988) identifies certain psychological skills or characteristics possessed by successful athletes. However, little has been done to connect the PSIS with other variables that may have an impact on the athletes’ psychological skills. Therefore the purpose of this study was twofold. First, the psychometric properties of the PSIS for all subjects and by gender were determined. Second, the relationship between the PSIS, experience, practice commitment, and gender of collegiate skiers was examined. A random sample of 131 male and female collegiate skiers responded to the 45-item PSIS. Overall, the six PSIS subscales (anxiety, concentration, confidence, mental preparation, motivation, and team emphasis) demonstrated acceptable internal reliability (coeff. alpha = .69−.84). Results of a 4 × 3 × 2 (Experience × Practice Commitment × Gender) MANOVA and follow-up univariate F tests revealed a significant gender effect on the team emphasis subscale. Female collegiate skiers were more team oriented than male collegiate skiers and placed more importance on the social and affiliative aspects of being on a team than did their male counterparts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 119 ◽  
pp. 01007
Author(s):  
Ilham Sadoqi

This paper seeks to investigate the potentials of youth agency in the margin of society and understand the prospects for social action or “Hirak” as an ongoing sweeping protest wave of a marginalized population. Based on a national qualitative study about youth and marginality in Morocco, this paper will focus on three moments. First, it will examine youth perception, their representation of their subjectivities, and how the realities and experiences of exclusion and “Hogra” manifested in inequalities, injustice, and systematic violence have shaped their beliefs and desire to act. The second moment brings to the fore their apprehension of the hegemonic powers of state institutions and social actors to determine their motivations and initiatives to articulate their actions locally and nationally under conditions of domination. The third moment will shed light on the dynamics of youth agency and the nature of their actions, be it individual or collective, subjective or rational. Similarly, it will also consider the structural limitations impinging on the social, political, cultural life, and gender relations. This paper examines the relationship between youth agency in the margin and the emergence of a new quest for social action “Hirak” in different regions of Morocco and how this might pave the way towards renegotiating the existing social contract between society and state.


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