Strategies of thought control in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Abstract

Intrusive anxiety-provoking thoughts are a core feature of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Recent research suggests that individuals use five different techniques of thought control including: distraction, punishment, re-appraisal, social control, and worry. The purpose of the present study was to examine the strategies of thought control used by OCD patients compared to those used by non-anxious controls. In addition, the relationship of method of thought control and domains of OCD-related psychopathology were investigated. Results revealed that OCD patients used punishment, worry, reappraisal, and social control more often than non-patients. Conversely, distraction was used more often by non-patients than OCDs. Interestingly, punishment was the strongest discriminator of OCDs and non-patients mostly because of the low frequency of its use by non-patients. Furthermore, punishment and worry were the only methods of thought control that correlated with OCD symptomatology. These results suggest that OCD patients may use maladaptive methods of thought control when faced with obsessions.