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Modifying Obsessive-Compulsive Beliefs about Controlling One’s Thoughts

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Abstract

Cognitive models of obsessive-compulsive disorder propose that beliefs about the importance of and need to control thoughts (ICT) are central to the maintenance of the disorder. Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation (CBM-I) can be used to experimentally test this theory and may also have clinical utility as an adjunct therapeutic tool. The current study extended previous research to investigate whether two CBM-I sessions (one within and one outside the laboratory) would augment effects on obsessive-compulsive beliefs and behavior. We randomly allocated undergraduate participants high in ICT beliefs to a Positive (n = 30) or Control (n = 36) CBM-I condition and conducted multi-modal assessments immediately following the first training and at one-week follow-up. As predicted, participants in the Positive condition reported a reduction in obsessive-compulsive beliefs from baseline to follow-up (partial η 2 = .42), whereas those in the Control condition did not. Participants responded more adaptively to the ICT relevant stressor task at follow-up compared to post-intervention, but there was no significant difference between conditions. Likewise, participants reported a reduction in obsessive symptoms over time that did not differ between conditions. The findings are considered in light of cognitive models of OCD, and clinical implications are discussed.

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Notes

  1. The pattern of results remained the same when paid participants were included, so participants were combined in all analyses.

  2. Following the suggestion of an anonymous reviewer, we conducted an exploratory moderator analysis post hoc to assess if the effect of condition on change in ICT beliefs differed according to visual imagery ability as measured by the VVIQ. There was no significant interaction of condition and VVIQ, b = .16, 95% CI [−.72, 1.03], t = .36, p = .72.

  3. When the full OCI-R was analysed in the same way the pattern of results remained the same: there was a main effect of time, F(1, 60) = 16.19, p < .001, partial \( {\eta}^2 \)= .21, indicating that averaged across conditions an overall reduction in symptoms was reported from baseline (M = 21.11, SD = 11.70) to follow-up (M = 17.39, SD = 12.40). A significant interaction effect was not found for the full OCI-R, p = .71, partial \( {\eta}^2 \)= .002.

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  1. School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Eileen P. Stech & Jessica R. Grisham

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  1. Eileen P. Stech
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Correspondence to Jessica R. Grisham.

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The research was supported in part by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship FT140100207 awarded to the second author.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Eileen P. Stech declares that she has no conflicts of interest. Jessica R. Grisham has received a research fellowship from Australian Research Council.

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Stech, E.P., Grisham, J.R. Modifying Obsessive-Compulsive Beliefs about Controlling One’s Thoughts. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 39, 534–545 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-017-9603-0

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