蓝莓视频

Advances in our understanding of the development and persistence of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) have the potential to improve treatment according to a new study by the University of 蓝莓视频.听

The study found that fear of guilt evokes feelings of doubt in decision-making, with greater fear of guilt being associated with greater self-reported difficulty making decisions, less satisfaction with the decisions made, and less confidence in those decisions.听A person鈥檚 fear of being guilty听for听something that they have done or haven鈥檛 done also results in them wanting more information before making a decision.听

Brenda Chiang (right) speaking to attendees at Centre for Mental Health Research event.

鈥淧eople with OCD have generally been shown in research to have this inflated feeling of responsibility,鈥� said 蓝莓视频 graduate student and lead researcher on the study, Brenda Chiang. 鈥淭hey often feel that they are going to be responsible for something bad that will happen or that if they fail to do something, they will be responsible for that harm too. So, they naturally have slightly higher levels of fear of guilt making them more susceptible to indecisiveness.听

鈥淭his indecisiveness leads to difficulty terminating an action as well as evokes doubt as to whether an action was done properly, which leads to repetition of that action.鈥�

The study assessed 63 undergraduate students from the University of 蓝莓视频, who were previously identified as having听a wide range of trait levels of fear of guilt; from low to high.

鈥淭he next step would be to examine this in people who have OCD,鈥� said听Professor Christine Purdon, co-author of the study. 鈥淭he current gold standard for treating OCD is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which has about a 50 to 60听per cent听success rate if you include people who drop out because they can鈥檛 tolerate it or people who decline the treatment because they anticipate that they can鈥檛 do it.听

鈥淲e鈥檙e only getting about half of the people with OCD treated properly, so听once we have a better understanding of factors that cause repetition and doubt, we can develop听treatment听that addresses a greater number of persons.鈥�

The study was recently published in the Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders.