(PS7-B49) Direct and Indirect Effects of Beliefs About Losing Control on OCD Symptoms

Cognitive models of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) propose that specific dysfunctional beliefs contribute to the maintenance of symptoms. Well-established belief domains known to influence OCD include responsibility/threat overestimation, perfectionism/intolerance of uncertainty, and importance of/need to control thoughts. Recently, beliefs about losing control has been proposed as a novel belief domain which may also influence OCD. Indeed, several empirical investigations have found that beliefs about losing control was associated with OCD symptoms. However, beliefs about losing control has largely been studied in isolation from other OCD-relevant cognitions. Given the complex nature of this disorder, different cognitive domains are likely interrelated and may well interact to influence at least some aspects of OCD phenomenology. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between beliefs about losing control and OCD-symptoms and examine whether these effects were direct or mediated through OCD-relevant dysfunctional beliefs. A total of 155 participants completed the Obsessional Beliefs Questionnaire, The Beliefs about Losing Control Inventory, and the Vancouver Obsessional Compulsive Inventory. Mediational analysis indicated that beliefs about losing control significantly predicted total OCD symptoms and repugnant obsessions both directly and indirectly via OCD-relevant dysfunctional beliefs. Beliefs about losing control also indirectly predicted contamination, checking and just right symptoms through OCD-relevant dysfunctional beliefs. These results suggest that beliefs about losing control is associated with OCD symptoms, and in some cases these associations may be mediated by other relevant-OCD cognitions, depending on the symptom domain. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical and clinical implications, as well as in terms of possible future directions.