Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 31, 2025
Exploring the Neural Correlates of Cognitive Reappraisal in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Using Task-based Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Published on: March 14, 2025
Overlapping features between social anxiety and obsessive-compulsive spectrum in a clinical sample and in healthy
Barbara Carpita1, Dario Muti1, Alessandra Petrucci1
1Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica e Sperimentale, Section of Psychiatry, University of Pisa, Italy.
Background:
While the literature frequently highlighted an association between social anxiety disorder (SAD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), few studies investigated the overlapping features of these conditions. The presented work evaluated the relationship between SAD and OCD spectrum in a clinical population and in healthy controls (HC).
Methods:
Fifty-six patients with OCD, 51 with SAD, 43 with major depressive disorder (MDD), and 59 HC (N = 209) were assessed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, the Social Phobia Spectrum (SCI-SHY), and the Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum (SCI-OBS).
Results:
SAD patients scored significantly higher than other groups on all SCI-SHY domains and total score; OCD patients scored significantly higher than HC. MDD patients scored significantly higher than HC on the SCI-SHY total, Behavioral inhibition, and Interpersonal sensitivity domains. OCD patients scored significantly higher than other groups on all SCI-OBS domains except Doubt, for which OCD and SAD scored equally high. SAD patients scored significantly higher than HC on the SCI-OBS total, Childhood/adolescence, Doubt, and Hypercontrol domains. MDD patients scored significantly higher than HC on the Hypercontrol domain. SCI-OBS and SCI-SHY were widely correlated among groups, although lower correlations were found among OCD patients. Stronger correlations were observed between SCI-SHY Interpersonal sensitivity and SCI-OBS Doubt, Obsessive-compulsive themes, and Hypercontrol; between SCI-SHY Specific anxieties/phobic features and SCI-OBS Obsessive-compulsive themes; and between SCI-SHY Behavioral inhibition and SCI-OBS Doubt, with slightly different patterns among groups.
Conclusion:
OCD and SAD spectrums widely overlap in clinical samples and in the general population. Interpersonal sensitivity and obsessive doubts might represent a common cognitive core for these conditions.
