Toward a Better Understanding of Who Is Likely to Be Susceptible to the Effects of Rumination on Obsessive–Compulsive Symptoms: An Explorative Analysis

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We previously found that rumination maintains obsessive–compulsive (OC) symptoms. Our goal was to explore the moderating roles of three characteristics in the immediate and intermediate effects of rumination on OC symptoms: trait rumination, severity of comorbid depressive symptoms, and the tendency to misinterpret the occurrence of unwanted intrusive thoughts as meaningful. We reanalyzed our previous study’s data and explored in a sample of 145 individuals diagnosed with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) whether any of the three characteristics moderated the observed immediate and intermediate effects of rumination on OC symptoms. Only the tendency to misinterpret unwanted intrusive thoughts moderated the immediate and intermediate effects of rumination on OC symptoms. If this result is confirmed in future studies, individuals with OCD and a high tendency to misinterpret unwanted intrusive thoughts might benefit particularly from supplemental interventions targeting the reduction of excessive rumination.