Exploring the role of dissociation in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

In the last decade, accumulating evidence has been produced on the role of dissociation in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Understanding which dissociation dimensions are specific to OCD could suggest the integration of therapeutic strategies for dissociation in the treatment of patients with OCD. The current study explored the role of dissociation in a sample of patients with OCD, patients with anxiety disorders and healthy controls with the aim to understand which dissociation dimensions could be specific to OCD. One hundred seventy-one participants were included in the study (56% females, mean age = 35.96, SD = 12.61), of which 52 were patients with primary OCD, 59 were patients with Anxiety Disorders (AD), and 60 were healthy controls. The Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) were administered. Patients with OCD had significantly higher dissociative amnesia symptoms than patients with AD and health controls (F = 6.08, P < 0.01) and higher depersonalization/derealization symptoms than healthy controls but not than patients with AD. Patients with OCD did not report significantly higher dissociative absorption than healthy controls and patients with AD. Strategies targeting dissociative amnesia and depersonalization/derealization symptoms in OCD are discussed. Future studies should examine which OCD subtypes are more strongly associated to dissociation dimensions.