Investigation of the Relationship between Obsessive Beliefs, Trait Anxiety, and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms from the Viewpoint of Mood-as-Input

Abstract

Three obsessional beliefs defined as “overestimation of responsibility and threat; RT,” “perfectionism and intolerance of uncertainty; PC,” and “importance and control of thoughts; ICT” have been considered important in development and maintenance of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Chronic anxiety, however, might have also influenced obsessive-compulsive symptoms from the viewpoint of mood-as-input. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between obsessional beliefs, chronic anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms by employing questionnaires. Obsessive-compulsive symptoms included “checking”, “cleaning”, “slowness”, and “doubting”. As predicted, the result indicated that both obsessional beliefs and chronic anxiety were related to obsessive-compulsive symptoms except for “cleaning” symptom. Moreover, analyses regarding the relationship between obsessive-compulsive symptoms and obsessive beliefs showed that “checking” was related to “PC,” “slowness” was related to “ICT,” and “doubting” was related to “PC” respectively. Further research in the future was discussed.