Abstract

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) affects roughly 2.5% of the general population [1]. An anxiety–based disorder, OCD is characterized by persistent, intrusive, and distressing obsessions (thoughts, impulses, or images) or compulsions (repetitive, excessive behaviours or mental acts) [1]. Similar to the U.S., nationwide prevalence of OCD in Japan is approximately 2% [2]. In one study, researchers administered the Yale–Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y–BOCS) symptom checklist [3] to 343 Japanese patients with OCD to examine whether symptom dimensions were stable across cultures. They found that the OCD symptom structure has substantial transcultural stability across Western and Eastern cultures [4]. Fear of contamination features prominently in approximately half of all cases of OCD [5] e.g., ‘I avoid using public toilets because I am afraid of disease or contamination’). In generally, these feelings of dirtiness may be evoked by contact with a contaminant or dirt. However, there is also another type of contamination that may be experienced without physical contact with a contaminant [6,7]. This phenomenon, first identified by Rachman [8], is called mental contamination

Highlights

  • Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) affects roughly 2.5% of the general population [1]

  • Consistent with our predictions, mental pollution questionnaire (MPQ)–washing was significantly correlated with MPQ–Ideation, Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), BDI, OCI–washing, anxiety sensitivity, sensation seeking, Responsibility Attitudes Scale (RAS), virtue, and RSE, MPQ– Ideation was significantly correlated with MPQ–washing, BAI, BDI, OCI–washing, hopelessness, anxiety sensitivity, RAS, and RSE

  • The main purpose of this study was to investigate the beliefs that are vulnerability of the feelings of mental contamination as measured by MPQ–J; we tested the hypothesis that beliefs related to responsibility, morality, and low self–esteem would predict feelings of mental contamination beyond the symptoms of contact contamination fears, depression, anxiety, and personality traits

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Summary

Introduction

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) affects roughly 2.5% of the general population [1]. Fear of contamination features prominently in approximately half of all cases of OCD [5] e.g., ‘I avoid using public toilets because I am afraid of disease or contamination’) In generally, these feelings of dirtiness may be evoked by contact with a contaminant or dirt. Radomsky, Elliott, and Zysk [13] reported the possibility that the feeling of mental contamination evoke for female sexual victims and male perpetrators In their experiment [13], male participants were asked to vividly imagine kissing a girl without her consent The study indicated that the magnitude of the mental contamination was boosted by the introduction of a betrayal element

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