Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T08:26:35.237Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pathways to Inflated Responsibility Beliefs in Adolescent Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Preliminary Investigation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2010

Peter J. Lawrence  and
Tim I. Williams
Peter J. Lawrence*
Affiliation:
University of Oxford, UK
Tim I. Williams
Affiliation:
University of Reading, UK
*
Reprint requests to Peter Lawrence, Clinical Psychologist, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background: An inflated sense of responsibility is characteristic of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). No previous studies have investigated its origins. Five potential pathways to inflated responsibility beliefs have been proposed; these are tested in this study. Method: A novel measure, the Origins Questionnaire for Adolescents (OQA), was developed to assess experiences on these five pathways. Reliability of the OQA was investigated. The experiences on the five pathways to inflated responsibility beliefs of 16 adolescents with a history of OCD were compared to 16 adolescents with no history of OCD. Parents also reported on adolescents' experiences on the five pathways. Results: Test-retest reliability was high. The internal consistency of the subscales was only partly satisfactory. The groups differed on one pathway; the clinical group reported a higher sense of responsibility for significant incidents with a negative outcome prior to onset of OCD. Conclusions: An inflated sense of responsibility, in combination with the occurrence of specific incidents, might act as a vulnerability factor for development of OCD. Future research should consider how to measure the subtle effects of experiences of responsibility over the course of development.

Keywords

Obsessive-compulsiveOCDdevelopmentinflated responsibility
Type
Brief Clinical Reports
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 39 , Issue 2 , March 2011 , pp. 229 - 234
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allsopp, M. and Williams, T. (1996). Intrusive thoughts in a non-clinical adolescent population. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 5, 25–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.Google Scholar
Salkovskis, P. M. (1989). Cognitive behavioural factors and the persistence of intrusive thoughts in obsessional problems. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 27, 677–682.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salkovskis, P., Shafran, R., Rachman, S. and Freeston, M. H. (1999). Multiple pathways to inflated responsibility beliefs in obsessional problems: possible origins and implications for therapy and research. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 37, 1055–1072.Google Scholar
Waite, P. and Williams, T. I. (Eds.) (2009). Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: cognitive behaviour therapy with children and young people. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, A. (1997). Cognitive Therapy of Anxiety Disorders: a practice manual and conceptual guide. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Zabin, M. A. and Melamed, B. G. (1980). Relationship between parental discipline and children's ability to cope with stress. Journal of Abnormal Behaviour, 2, 17–38.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Lawrence supplementary material

Extended report.doc

Download Lawrence supplementary material(File)
File 489.5 KB
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.