Difficulties in emotion regulation differentiate depressive and obsessive-compulsive symptoms and their co-occurrence

Depressive and obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms are frequently comorbid, and the combination of these may result in additional impairment compared to the difficulties of experiencing one of these symptom groups. Emotion regulation difficulties underlie many forms of psychopathology symptoms, and this study examined whether aspects of emotion regulation could differentiate clinical levels of depressive and OC symptoms, and their co-occurrence.

College students (N = 199; Mage = 19.47 years; 59.8% female) were grouped based on the presence of clinical levels of OC and depressive symptoms. Using a multinomial logistic regression approach, differences in odds ratios for emotion regulation difficulties were examined.

The co-occurring clinical-symptom group was differentiated from the single clinical-symptom groups on several aspects of emotion regulation. Impulse-control difficulties and limited access to emotion regulation strategies differentiated clinical levels of depressive from OC symptoms.

This study highlights the importance of conducting a nuanced emotion assessment to best inform prevention and treatment of depressive and OC symptoms, and their comorbidity.