Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and propensity to guilt feelings and disgust

Objective: According to a large scientific literature, propensity to guilt feeling and to disgust plays an important role in pathogenesis and maintenance of OCD. However it is still not completely clear whether OC patients show greater guilt and disgust propensity, when compared to healthy subjects and other anxiety disorders, whether checkers and washers OCD subtypes show some differences in their guilt and disgust propensity, whether there is an association between guilt and disgust propensity and OC symptoms severity. The aim of the present research is to answer to these questions. Method: We recruited 73 OCD patients (11 washers, 49 checkers, 13 both), 19 other-anxiety disorders patients and 87 non-clinical controls (NCC). Results: Results confirmed that OCD patients were more prone to guilt feelings and disgust than both anxious and NCC. There were no differences between OC subtypes. Propensity to guilt feelings and to disgust was significantly correlated with OC symptom severity. Moreover, propensity to guilt feelings was significantly correlated to disgust propensity only in OCD group. Conclusions: These findings are in line with results of other research suggesting that OCD patients suffer of deontological guilt, which is strictly connected to disgust.