[The responsibility schema in obsessive compulsive checking and washing]

According to the theory of cognitive therapy, mental disorders are related to specific dysfunctional schemata, assumptions and automatic thoughts. Various pathogenic schemata have been identified in the context of the cognitive explanation of obsessive compulsive disorder, among which is the responsibily schema, proposed by Salkovskis in 1985. The responsibility schema has been defined as the belief that one possesses pivotal power to provoke or prevent subjective crucial negative outcomes. In order to investigate the relationship between the major obsessive compulsive themes and the cognitive schema of responsibility, the Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory and the Responsibility Questionnaire were administered to a non-clinical sample of 366 college students. Two groups, consisting of 15 participants each, were identified having obsessive compulsive manifestations (complaints). The first group manifested obsessive compulsive checking and the second group manifested obsessive compulsive washing. No significant sex differences were found between the groups (x²=0.186, df=1, p>0.005), but significant age differences were observed (t=-2.41, df=19.68, p<0.05). In view of this finding, data were subjected to Analysis of Covariance. The age of the participants was treated as a covariate and the main effects of the obsessive compulsive checking and washing on responsibility were analyzed. The findings seem to verify this relationship for obsessive compulsive checking (F=5.63, df=1.307, p<0.05). The subjects who manifested obsessive-compulsive checking reported an increased sense of responsibility as compared to those who experienced obsessive-compulsive washing or were free of obsessive-compulsive manifestations. The available questionnaires did not allow the investigation of the relationship between other types of obsessive compulsive manifestations and responsibility. The use of a non-clinical sample should also be noted.