Unwanted Intrusive Cognitions in the Obsessive-compulsive Spectrum Disorders: an Analysis in Clinical Samples

Objective: The Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum consists of a group of disorders that have high comorbidity with the obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and share some clinical and other features. Although there is a lack of agreement about which disorders should be included in the OC-spectrum, several authors consider that eating disorders (ED), and especially Anorexia Nervosa (AN), are firm candidates for the spectrum. Unwanted intrusive thoughts, urges, and repetitive behaviors (UIT) could be one of the psychopathologies shared by the OC-spectrum disorders, since they are the basis of OCD symptoms and also commonly experienced by ED patients. To examine the characteristics of UITs experienced by OCD and AN patients. Method: Sixty-one OCD and 34 AN Restrictive subtype patients completed a self-report measure designed to assess UITs with obsessional contents (OCD patients) and with eating disorder related contents (AN patients), and the dysfunctional appraisals and control strategies related to the most upsetting UIT experienced in the past three months. Results: Both the OCD and AN patients experienced their UIT with comparable frequency, and these intrusions induced similar negative emotional consequences, control difficulties, dysfunctional appraisals, and thought control strategies. Nonetheless, OCD patients scored higher on dysfunctional beliefs of responsibility, importance of UIT control, and overestimation of threat associated with the UIT, and also on the frequency of using some strategies to control the unwanted cognition. Conclusions: The propensity to experience UITs, their emotional consequences, and the tendency to appraise them in a dysfunctional way are shared by OCD and AN, although some differences also emerged among patients having one of the two disorders. The role of UITs as a transdiagnostic variable in the OC-spectrum warrants further investigation.