Obsessive-compulsive symptoms moderate the effect of contamination motion on disgust intensity

IF 2.2 4区医学 Q3 PSYCHIATRY

Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry Pub Date : 2025-08-22 DOI:10.1016/j.jbtep.2025.102068

M. Pelzer , C. Ouellet-Courtois , S. Krause , A. Coughtrey , J. Fink-Lamotte

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Perceiving a threat as constantly evolving, coming closer and escalating quickly can result in looming vulnerability (LV). LV may be a distal factor in contamination-based OCD (C-OCD) influencing disorder-specific mechanisms such as disgust. The aim of this study was to gain knowledge about three components of LV: speed, proximity and acceleration, and their influence on the relationship between disgust and C-OCD symptoms.

Methods

119 participants with subclinical C-OCD symptoms imagined four out of seven versions of a disgusting bathroom scene, varying in speed (slow/fast), proximity (farther away/closer), and acceleration (constant/exponential). These six dynamic conditions were compared to a static description. T-tests and a Bayesian multilevel model were used to assess differences in perceived dynamics of threat, disgust responses, and to examine the moderating role of C-OCD symptoms on responses to the experimental conditions.

Results

Threats in the dynamic conditions were perceived as significantly faster, closer, and more accelerated than in the static version. A difference within dynamic dimensions only emerged between the farther away and closer conditions. The Bayesian model showed a moderating effect of C-OCD symptoms leading to higher levels of disgust in the dynamic conditions, but not within the static condition.

Limitations

Without baseline disgust and LV measures, the specific contributions to disgust and LV for each condition remain unclear.

Conclusion

By showing that imagining dynamic contamination only elicits stronger disgust in individuals with higher C-OCD symptoms, the results support the idea of LV as a distal factor influencing symptom-maintaining factors in C-OCD such as disgust.

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强迫症状调节污染运动对厌恶强度的影响

将威胁视为不断演变、越来越近和迅速升级可能会导致隐现的脆弱性（LV）。左室可能是污染型强迫症（C-OCD）中影响疾病特异性机制（如厌恶）的一个远端因素。本研究的目的是了解LV的三个组成部分：速度、接近度和加速度，以及它们对厌恶与C-OCD症状之间关系的影响。方法119名有亚临床C-OCD症状的参与者想象7个版本中的4个恶心的浴室场景，不同的速度（慢/快）、距离（远/近）和加速度（恒定/指数）。将这六种动态条件与静态描述进行比较。使用t检验和贝叶斯多水平模型来评估威胁、厌恶反应的感知动态差异，并检验C-OCD症状对实验条件下反应的调节作用。结果动态条件下的威胁感知明显比静态条件下更快、更近、更快。动态维度上的差异只出现在较远和较近的条件之间。贝叶斯模型显示，C-OCD症状在动态条件下有调节作用，导致厌恶水平升高，而在静态条件下没有。局限性：没有基线厌恶和左室测量，每种情况下对厌恶和左室的具体贡献仍然不清楚。结论想象动态污染只会在C-OCD症状较高的个体中引起更强烈的厌恶，结果支持左室是影响C-OCD症状维持因素（如厌恶）的远端因素的观点。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry Multiple-

CiteScore

3.60

自引率

5.60%

发文量

期刊介绍： The publication of the book Psychotherapy by Reciprocal Inhibition (1958) by the co-founding editor of this Journal, Joseph Wolpe, marked a major change in the understanding and treatment of mental disorders. The book used principles from empirical behavioral science to explain psychopathological phenomena and the resulting explanations were critically tested and used to derive effective treatments. The second half of the 20th century saw this rigorous scientific approach come to fruition. Experimental approaches to psychopathology, in particular those used to test conditioning theories and cognitive theories, have steadily expanded, and experimental analysis of processes characterising and maintaining mental disorders have become an established research area.