Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T10:57:12.425Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Predictors and Consequences of Suppressing Obsessional Thoughts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2007

Lee J. Markowitz  and
Christine Purdon
Lee J. Markowitz*
Affiliation:
University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Christine Purdon
Affiliation:
University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
*
Reprint requests to Lee Markowitz, Department of Psychology, Colby College, Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, MA 04901, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Cognitive-behavioral models of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) assert that negative appraisals of obsessional thoughts lead to distress over the thoughts and drive ameliorative actions such as thought suppression and compulsions. These responses in turn play a role in the persistence of the disorder. However, past research has not examined (a) what factors lead individuals to suppress obsessional thoughts; (b) whether certain predictors and consequences relate to suppression uniquely or can be explained by general factors such as negative mood and neuroticism; or (c) individuals' natural active suppression of obsessions. The current study addresses these limitations by examining the roles of natural suppression and distress over thought intrusions in the thought-appraisal/OC symptoms relationship while controlling for general factors. Ninety-one nonclinical participants completed a variety of measures assessing theoretically relevant constructs. After their obsessional thought was primed, they recorded their thoughts for 6 minutes and then rated their suppression effort. Four hours later, longer-term outcomes were assessed. Path analyses supported most components of cognitive-behavioral models.

Keywords

Obsessive-compulsive disorderthought appraisalsthought suppressioncognitive-behavior therapyanxiety
Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , March 2008 , pp. 179 - 192
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2007

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

Abramowitz, J. S., Tolin, D. F. and Street, G. P. (2001). Paradoxical effects of thought suppression: a meta-analysis of controlled studies. Clinical Psychology Review, 21, 683–703.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
American Psychiatric Association (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed. rev.). Washington, DC: Author.Google Scholar
Baron, R. M. and Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blumberg, S. J. (2000). The white bear suppression inventory: revisiting its factor structure. Personality and Individual Differences, 29, 943–950.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borton, J. L. S., Markowitz, L. J. and Dieterich, J. (2005). Effects of suppressing negative self-referent thoughts on mood and self-esteem. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24, 172–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burns, G. L., Keortge, S. G., Formea, G. M. and Sternberger, L. G. (1996). Revision of the Padua Inventory of obsessive compulsive disorder symptoms: distinctions between worry, obsessions, and compulsions. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 34, 163–173.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clark, L. A. and Watson, D. (1991). Tripartite model of anxiety and depression: psychometric evidence and taxonomic implications. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100, 316–336.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clark, L. A., Watson, D. and Mineka, S. (1994). Temperament, personality, and the mood and anxiety disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 103–116.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldberg, L. R. (1999). A broad-bandwidth, public domain, personality inventory measuring the lower-level facets of several five-factor models. In Mervielde, I., Deary, I., De Fruyt, F. and Ostendorf, F. (Eds.), Personality Psychology in Europe, 7 (pp. 7–28). Tilburg, The Netherlands: Tilburg University Press.Google Scholar
Goodman, W. K., Price, L. H., Rasmussen, S. A., Mazure, C., Fleishmann, R. L., Hill, C. L., Heninger, G. R. and Charney, D. S. (1989). The Yale-Brown obsessive compulsive scale. I: development, use, and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 1006–1011.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoping, W. and Jong-Meyer, R. D. (2003). Differentiating unwanted intrusive thoughts from thought suppression: what does the white bear suppression inventory measure? Personality and Individual Differences, 34, 1049–1055.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
International Personality Item Pool (2001). A scientific collaboratory for the development of advanced measures of personality traits and other individual differences. (http://ipip.ori.org/ipip/). Internet web site.Google Scholar
Janeck, S.A. and Calamari, J.E. (1999). Thought suppression in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 23, 497–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKinnon, D. P., Lockwood, C. M., Hoffman, J. M., West, S. G. and Sheets, V. (2002). A comparison of methods to test mediation and other intervening variable effects. Psychological Methods, 7, 83–104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Markowitz, L. J. and Borton, J. L. S. (2002). Suppression of negative self-referent and neutral thoughts: a preliminary investigation. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 30, 271–277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Obsessive Compulsive Cognitions Working Group (2001). Development and initial validation of the obsessive beliefs questionnaire and the interpretation of intrusions inventory. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 39, 987–1006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pedhazur, E. J. (1997). Multiple Regression in Behavioral Research: explanation and prediction (3rd ed.). Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers.Google Scholar
Purdon, C. (1999). Thought suppression and psychopathology. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 37, 1029–1054.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Purdon, C. (2001). Appraisals of intrusive thought recurrences: impact on anxiety and mood state. Behavior Therapy, 32, 47–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Purdon, C. (2004). Empirical investigation of thought suppression in OCD. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 35, 121–136.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Purdon, C. and Clark, D. A. (2001). Suppression of obsession-like thoughts in nonclinical individuals: impact on thought frequency, appraisal and mood state. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 39, 1163–1181.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Purdon, C., Rowa, K. and Antony, M. M. (2005). Thought suppression and its effects on thought frequency, appraisal and mood state in individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 43, 93–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rachman, S. (1997). A cognitive theory of obsessions. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35, 793–802.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rachman, S. (1998). A cognitive theory of obsessions: elaborations. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 385–401.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rassin, E. (2001). The contribution of thought-action fusion and thought suppression in the development of obsession-like intrusions in normal participants. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 39, 1023–1032.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rassin, E., Muris, P., Schmidt, H. and Merckelbach, H. (2000). Relationships between thought-action fusion, thought suppression and obsessive-compulsive symptoms: a structural equation modeling approach. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 38, 889–897.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roemer, L. and Borkovec, T. D. (1994). Effects of suppressing thoughts about emotional material. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 467–474.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salkovskis, P. M. (1985). Intrusive-compulsive problems: a cognitive-behavioural analysis. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 23, 571–583.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salkovskis, P. M. (1998). Psychological approaches to the understanding of intrusive problems. In Swinson, R. P., Antony, M. M., Rachman, S. and Richter, M. A. (Eds.), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: theory, research, and treatment (pp. 33–50). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Salkovskis, P. M. (1999). Understanding and treating obsessive-compulsive disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 37, 29–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smári, J. and Hólmsteinsson, H. E. (2001). Intrusive thoughts, responsibility attitudes, thought-action fusion, and chronic thought suppression in relation to obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 29, 13–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, D., Clark, L. A. and Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063–1070.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wegner, D. M., Schneider, D. J., Carter, S. R. and White, T. L. (1987). Paradoxical effects of thought suppression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 5–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wegner, D. M. and Zanakos, S. (1994). Chronic thought suppression. Journal of Personality, 62, 615–640.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wenzlaff, R. M., Wegner, D. M. and Stanley, K. B. (1991). The role of thought suppression in the bonding of thought and mood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 500–508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.