Not just right exposure? Exposure to feelings of incompleteness and not just right experiences associated with OCD symptoms
[Thesis]
Emily McLean Johnson
Coles, Meredith E.
State University of New York at Binghamton
2014
78
Committee members: Gibb, Brandon E.; James, Gary D.; Miller, Ralph R.
Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-1-321-57185-1
Ph.D.
Psychology
State University of New York at Binghamton
2014
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a severe mental illness that affects 1.6% of individuals in the United States at some point in their lifetime (Kessler et al., 2005). OCD negatively affects multiple domains including quality of life, economics, and disability (Eisen, Mancebo et al., 2006; Fontenelle, Fontenelle, Borges, & Prazeres, 2010; Koran, Thienemann, & Davenport, 1996; Murray & Lopez, 1996). One form of treatment for OCD is exposure therapy; the form of exposure therapy specifically tailored for OCD is Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP; Abramowitz, 1996; Wilhelm et al., 2004). However, to our knowledge there is a lack of data regarding the use of ERP with OCD symptoms related to sensations of Incompleteness and Not Just Right Experiences (NJREs). Community participants (N=30) with at least one subclinical symptom of OCD were recruited for the current study. Participants engaged in a 30 minute experimental exposure in which they focused their attention on physiological responses related to Incompleteness and NJRE symptoms. Findings show that discomfort/tension is initially more prominent than anxiety (when both are measured on 0-100 scales) during such exposures, and both discomfort/tension and anxiety decreased during the course of the exposure. Possible clinical applications and research directions are discussed.