Examining the role of emotion dysregulation in the association between obsessive compulsive symptom severity and suicide risk

Abstract

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been found to be associated with increased risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors. However, little research has explored factors that may account for the OCD-suicide link. One factor that holds promise in this regard is emotion dysregulation given its previously demonstrated association with obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptom severity and suicide risk. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine whether emotion dysregulation accounts for the association between OC symptom severity and suicide risk. A sample of 109 adults (60.6% female, mean age = 39.85) seeking treatment at an anxiety disorders clinic completed a variety of self-report measures of OC symptom severity, emotion dysregulation, and recent (past two weeks) suicide risk upon intake into the clinic. As expected, emotion dysregulation accounted for the association between OC symptom severity and recent suicide risk. This result remained when anxiety symptom severity was included as a covariate. Results suggest that emotion dysregulation may be an important target for intervention in reducing suicide risk among individuals experiencing OC symptoms.