Disgust and fear responding in contamination-based obsessive-compulsive disorder during pictorial exposure

Joshua Broderick, Jessica R. Grisham, Gabrielle Weidemann

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    19 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The emotion of disgust has been implicated in the development and maintenance of contamination-based obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In the present study nonclinical participants with high (n=26) and low(n=28) levels of OCD contamination symptoms were exposed to 2 categories of disgust stimuli (blood injury and body waste) across 4 blocks using standardized disgust images. Self-report disgust and fear were recorded, as well as cardiovascular heart rate. In both groups, an initial primary disgust reaction was observed. Self-report disgust and fear, but not heart rate deceleration, was greater in the high symptom group. The high symptom group showed reductions in heart rate deceleration, whereas the low symptom group did not. Significant differences in self-report changes across time were observed between the groups, with fear increasing to a greater extent for high contamination fearful individuals when viewing body waste images. The implications of these findings for theoretical models and clinical treatment of OCD with prominent contamination symptoms are discussed.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)27-38
    Number of pages12
    JournalBehavior Therapy
    Volume44
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2013

    Keywords

    • averson
    • contamination
    • heart rate
    • obsessive-compulsive disorder

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