Examination of the relations between obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions and fear and distress disorder symptoms

Whereas prior work has established fear and distress clusters underlying unipolar mood and anxiety disorders, the optimal placement of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) within this model is unclear. One likely contributor to this ambiguity is the heterogeneous nature of OCD. There is increasing evidence for distinct symptom dimensions that are more homogenous than the broad OCD phenotype. Using structural equation modeling, the current study examined the relations between various OCD symptom dimensions and symptoms associated with fear/distress disorders.

Participants included 526 individuals recruited from an online crowdsourcing marketplace.

Results revealed that the symmetry obsessions/arranging compulsions, harm obsessions/checking compulsions, and unacceptable thoughts/neutralizing compulsions were related to both fear and distress disorder symptoms, whereas the contamination obsessions/washing compulsions dimension of OCD was specifically related to fear disorder symptoms.

Limitations include the use of self-report questionnaires to measure all constructs of interest.

These findings add to a growing body of literature attesting to the multidimensional nature of OCD and progress our understanding of the etiological underpinnings of this severe and debilitating condition.