Cognitive therapy for compulsive checking in obsessive-compulsive disorder: A pilot trial.

We evaluated a novel, empirically-based cognitive therapy for compulsive checking - a common form of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Twelve adults completed 12 sessions of the therapy. Significant reductions in checking-related symptoms were found pre- to post-treatment, and pre-treatment to 6-month follow-up (moderate to large effect sizes).

When it's at: An examination of when cognitive change occurs during cognitive therapy for compulsive checking in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background And Objectives: The cognitive theory of compulsive checking in OCD proposes that checking behaviour is maintained by maladaptive beliefs, including those related to inflated responsibility and those related to reduced memory confidence. This study examined whether and when specific interventions (as part of a new cognitive therapy for compulsive checking) addressing these cognitive targets changed feelings of responsibility and memory confidence.

Methods: Participants were nine adults with a primary or secondary diagnosis of OCD who reported significant checking symptoms (at least one hour per day) on the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale.

An informational pathway to the development of a contamination-related memory bias.

Background And Objectives: Following from previous research in which post-encoding suggestions of threat led to the development of a memory bias (in the presumed absence of an attentional bias; Senn & Radomsky, 2012), we sought to examine whether the development of a similar threat-relevant memory bias could be fostered via a purely informational pathway.

Methods: A vignette about a classroom interaction was read aloud to (n = 96) undergraduate participants who then completed a post-encoding recall test. Participants were told that the experimenter forgot to read the last sentence of the vignette, and were then randomly assigned either to the Threat condition, in which the additional statement indicated that a character in the vignette had a highly contagious flu, or to the No-Threat condition, in which the additional statement indicated that a character in the vignette had been accepted to graduate school.

Beliefs about control and the persistence of cleaning behaviour: an experimental analysis.

Background And Objectives: Low perceived control (PC) and overestimations of controllability have each been related to obsessive compulsive (OC) symptoms and behaviour. OC beliefs and symptoms are also associated with a discrepancy between low perceived control (PC) and a high desire for control (DC). The present study sought to examine the influence of components of PC, low control-related self-efficacy (CSE) and high predicted controllability (PRC), on the persistence of cleaning behaviour and DC ratings.

Relationships between anger, symptoms, and cognitive factors in OCD checkers.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether individuals diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) with primary checking compulsions report higher levels of trait anger and anger expression compared with a student control group, and whether trait anger and anger expression are correlated with specific beliefs and interpretations that are common among individuals who compulsively check. A group of individuals with OCD reporting significant checking compulsions (n=33) and a group of undergraduate students (n=143) completed a questionnaire package that included measures of trait anger and anger expression, as well as measures of obsessive-compulsive symptoms and beliefs. The compulsive checking group reported greater trait anger, though not greater anger expression, than the student control group.