Symptom-specific attentional bias to threatening stimuli in obsessive-compulsive disorder

• Published in: Comprehensive psychiatry 2012-08, Vol.53 (6), p.783-788
• Main Authors: Sizino da Victoria, Mara, Nascimento, Antonio Leandro, Fontenelle, Leonardo F
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Aged; Anxiety; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; Attention - physiology; Bias; Biological and medical sciences; Cues; Depression - complications; Depression - psychology; Emotions - physiology; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Mental depression; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests; Neuroses; Obsessive compulsive disorder; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - complications; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - psychology; Obsessive-compulsive disorders; Photic Stimulation; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reaction Time - physiology; Severity of Illness Index
• ISSN: 0010-440X; 1532-8384
• DOI: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2011.12.005

Abstract Objective There is mixed evidence as to whether patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have excessive attentional engagement and emotional response to OCD-related stimuli in the environment. Here we investigate the occurrence of an attentional bias toward specific OCD-related stimuli and its relationship with obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions. Methods Forty-eight patients with OCD participated in an attentional bias task containing OCD- and non–OCD-related stimuli and had their performance compared with that of 24 age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy control subjects. Severity of obsessive-compulsive and comorbid depressive symptoms was assessed using the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory–Revised and the Beck Depression Inventory, respectively. Results Although there were significant and almost significant group effects on the reaction time (RT) toward OCD- and non–OCD-related figures, respectively, no difference between patients with OCD and controls was noted with regard to RT toward OCD-related figures minus RT toward non–OCD-related figures. Nevertheless, within the OCD group, partial correlational analysis controlled for age and severity of depression unveiled positive correlations between (1) obsessional symptoms and RT toward checking-related pictures and (2) ordering symptoms and RT toward ordering-related pictures. Conclusions The positive correlations between RT to content-specific stimuli and the severity of corresponding obsessive-compulsive symptoms suggest that patients with OCD experience difficulty in disengaging attention from personally salient stimuli.