OCD in adolescents: the prevalence and contribution of cognitive beliefs in OCD and other emotional disorders

• Autores: Zahra Noorian
• Directores de la Tesis: Edelmira Domènech (dir. tes.)
• Lectura: En la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona ( España ) en 2014
• Idioma: inglés
• Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Jordi Obiols Llandrich (presid.), Ferrán Viñas Poch (secret.), Josefa Canals Sans (voc.)
• Materias:
  • Psicología
    • Psicología del niño y del adolescente
• Enlaces
  • Tesis en acceso abierto en:  TDX  DDD 
• Resumen

  • In this doctoral thesis, I have three general objectives: (1) the epidemiological study of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms among Spanish adolescents; (2) studying the contribution of dysfunctional obsessive beliefs in OCD symptoms; (3) studying the specificity of obsessive beliefs to OCD and other psychological disorder like generalized anxiety disorder(GAD), social phobia(FS) and major depression and or distimia (MDD/Distimia) The first study examines the prevalence of OCD symptoms in a population of 1,061 adolescents with the mean age of 13.92. It also investigates the association between anxiety symptoms severity (panic attacks, separation anxiety, social phobia, generalized anxiety and school phobia) and depressive symptom severity. OCD symptoms are assessed by Leyton Obsession Inventory (LOI-CV) questionnaire. Two distinct groups of subjects are defined as being `positive¿ on the LOI-CV according to Flamment et al. (1988). The first group (called High interference) includes all of the subjects who scored 25 or more in interference regardless of symptom presence score. The second group (called High symptom presence) consists of all subjects with a symptom presence score equal to or above 15 and an interference score of 10 or less. Associated depression and anxiety symptoms severities were measured by the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) and Children¿s Depression Inventory (CDI). The results of the first study shows that forty- one subjects (3.9%) showed an interference score of 25 or more (high interference group) while eight students (0.8%) were included in the high symptom presence group. The most prevalent and interfering symptoms were fussy about hands, hating dirt and contamination and going over things a lot. In addition, the association between LOI and depressive symptom severity was significant, while the association between LOI and anxiety symptoms severity was insignificant. Cognitive theories of OCD suggest that interpretation of intrusive thoughts and meanings that are given to them play a crucial role in the development of OCD. The objective of the second study is to investigate the association of dysfunctional obsessive beliefs such as inflated responsibility and overestimation of threat (RT), perfectionism and intolerance of uncertainty (PC), importance and need to control thoughts (ICT) and thought action fusion (TAF) to OCD symptoms in a population of adolescents. In the second study, 966 adolescents with a mean age of 13.89 years completed questionnaires measuring obsessive beliefs, thought-action fusion (TAF) beliefs, and OCD, depression and anxiety symptoms. Findings from various statistical analyses in the second study indicate that all OCD symptom dimensions assessed by LOI-CV were significantly associated with all of the obsessive beliefs measured by OBQ-44. Linear regression analysis shows that perfectionism and intolerance of uncertainty accompanies depression and anxiety symptoms predict all OCD symptoms dimensions. Moreover, TAF-likelihood belief predicts mental compulsion and superstition symptom. In the third study, I examine whether different dysfunctional obsessive beliefs are exclusive to OCD or they also exist in other psychological disorders such as FS, GAD, and MDD/distimia. Moreover, the relation between obsessive beliefs and clinical variables such as OCD, depression, and anxiety symptoms has been assessed in different diagnostic groups. The sample consists of adolescents with four different diagnoses: 16 adolescents with OCD diagnosis; 64 adolescents with FS; 52 adolescents with GAD and 47 adolescents with MDD/distimia. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) shows no significant difference between different diagnostic groups on obsessive beliefs, measured by OBQ-44 and TAF-A. Correlational analysis reveals that all obsessive beliefs significantly correlate with depression (CDI-total), anxiety (SCARED-total) and OCD symptoms (LOI-total). Bivariate correlation indicates that OBQ-total and its subscales (PC and ICT) have the highest correlation with obsessive symptoms in OCD group, compared with all other diagnostic groups.