Empirical investigations of thought suppression in OCD

Cognitive-behavioural models of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) implicate thought suppression as a key factor in the development and persistence of the disorder. There is now more than a decade of research on thought suppression and its effects as they pertain to OCD. This paper briefly reports on initial thought suppression research and then offers a detailed review of recent thought suppression research that has directly examined the role of suppression in OCD. Theoretical and methodological issues in using thought suppression paradigms to understand OCD are discussed. It is concluded that this body of work continues to yield inconsistent findings with respect to the effects of suppression on thought frequency, although there are some consistent findings that suggest that suppression is driven by negative thought appraisal and is associated in turn with greater OCD symptomatology. Thus, there is support in this work for key tenets of cognitive-behavioural models of OCD. Suggestions for future research directions are offered.