Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T00:00:16.069Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Carer's perception of and reaction to reassurance seeking in obsessive compulsive disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2017

Osamu Kobori ,
Paul M. Salkovskis ,
Rowena Pagdin ,
Julie Read  and
Brynjar Halldorsson
Osamu Kobori*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Swansea University, UK
Paul M. Salkovskis
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Bath, UK
Rowena Pagdin
Affiliation:
Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
Julie Read
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
Brynjar Halldorsson
Affiliation:
School of Psychology and Clinical Language Science, University of Reading, UK
*
*Correspondence to Osamu Kobori, Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK. E-mail: O.Kobori@swansea.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to explore the experience of being asked for reassurance from the perspective of carers of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) sufferers, and to examine its relationship to sufferers’ reassurance seeking by a direct comparison with data obtained from the person they normally offer reassurance to. Forty-two individuals with OCD and their carers completed alternate versions of the Reassurance Seeking Questionnaire. Result suggest that carers report most commonly providing reassurance when asked to do so, and the frequency of their reassurance provision is associated with how carefully sufferers seek reassurance, rather than their OCD symptom severity. The carer's perspectives on the impact of reassurance provision was accurate; both sufferers and carers perceive that reassurance works only temporarily, but even if the anxiety-relieving effect of reassurance decreases in the medium term, it is likely to be perceived as beneficial because carers accurately perceived that sufferers would feel much worse if they refused to provide reassurance. The present study is the first to quantitatively investigate carer's experiences of reassurance provision, and elucidate why carers feel the need to provide it.

Keywords

reassurance seekingcarersobsessive compulsive disorderfamily accommodation
Type
Original Research
Information
the Cognitive Behaviour Therapist , Volume 10 , 2017 , e7
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Suggested further reading

Challacombe, F, Oldfield, VB, Salkovskis, PM (2011). Break Free From OCD: Overcoming Obsessive Compulsive Disorder with CBT. Random House.Google Scholar
Halldorsson, B, Salkovkis, PM, Kobori, O, Pagdin, R (2016). I do not know what else to do: Caregivers’ perspective on reassurance seeking in OCD. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders 8, 21–30.Google Scholar
Kobori, O, Salkovskis, PM, Read, J, Lounes, N, Wong, V. (2012). A qualitative study of the investigation of reassurance seeking in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders 1, 25–32.Google Scholar

References

Abramowitz, JS, Baucom, DH, Wheaton, MG, Boeding, S, Fabricant, LE, Paprocki, C, Fischer, MS (2013). Enhancing exposure and response prevention for OCD: a couple-based approach. Behavior Modification 37, 189–210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Abreu Ramos-Cerqueira, ATD, Torres, AR, Torresan, RC, Negreiros, APM, Vitorino, CN (2008). Emotional burden in caregivers of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Depression and Anxiety 25, 1020–1027.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amir, N, Freshman, M, Foa, EB (2000). Family distress and involvement in relatives of obsessive-compulsive disorder patients. Journal of Anxiety Disorders 14, 209–217.Google Scholar
Beck, AT, Epstein, N, Brown, G, Steer, RA (1988). An inventory for measuring clinical anxiety: psychometric properties. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 56, 893–897.Google Scholar
Beck, AT, Steer, RA (1987). Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory. San Antonio: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Black, DW, Gaffney, G, Schlosser, S, Gabel, J. (1998). The impact of obsessive-compulsive disorder on the family: preliminary findings. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 186, 440–442.Google Scholar
Boeding, SE, Paprocki, CM, Baucom, DH, Abramowitz, JS, Wheaton, MG, Fabricant, LE, Fischer, MS (2013). Let me check that for you: symptom accommodation in romantic partners of adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy 51, 316–322.Google Scholar
Cicek, E, Cicek, IE, Kayhan, F, Uguz, F, Kaya, N (2013). Quality of life, family burden and associated factors in relatives with obsessive-compulsive disorder. General Hospital Psychiatry 35, 253–258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calvocoressi, L, Lewis, B, Harris, M, Trufan, SJ, Goodman, WK, McDougle, CJ, Price, LH (1995). Family accommodation in obsessive-compulsive disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry 152, 441–443.Google ScholarPubMed
Calvocoressi, L, Mazure, C, Kasl, S, Skolnick, J, Fisk, D, Vegso, SJ, Van Noppen, BL, Price, LH (1999). Family accommodation of obsessive-compulsive symptoms: instrument development and assessment of family behavior. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 187, 636–642.Google Scholar
Chambless, DL, Steketee, G (1999). Expressed emotion and behavior therapy outcome: a prospective study with obsessive-compulsive and agoraphobic outpatients. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 67, 658–665.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, M (1996). Obsessive-compulsive disorder: effects on family members. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 66, 296–304.Google Scholar
Derisley, J, Libby, S, Clark, S, Reynolds, S (2005). Mental health, coping and family‐functioning in parents of young people with obsessive‐compulsive disorder and with anxiety disorders. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 44, 439–444.Google Scholar
First, M, Spitzer, R, Gibbon, M, Williams, J (1996). Structured clinical interview for DSM-IV axis I disorders – patient edition. New York.Google Scholar
Foa, EB, Kozak, MJ, Salkovskis, PM, Coles, M, Amir, N (1998). The validation of a new obsessive-compulsive disorder scale: the obsessive-compulsive inventory. Psychological Assessment 3, 206–214.Google Scholar
Grunes, MS, Neziroglu, F, McKay, D (2001). Family involvement in the behavioral treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder: a preliminary investigation. Behavior Therapy 32, 803–820.Google Scholar
Grover, S, Dutt, A (2011). Perceived burden and quality of life of caregivers in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences 65, 416–422.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Halldorsson, B, Salkovkis, PM, Kobori, O, Pagdin, R. (2016). I do not know what else to do: caregivers’ perspective on reassurance seeking in OCD. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders 8, 21–30.Google Scholar
Kalra, H, Nischal, A, Trivedi, JK, Dalal, PK, Sinha, PK (2009). Extent and determinants of burden of care in Indian families: a comparison between obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia. International Journal of Social Psychiatry 55, 28–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kobori, O, Salkovskis, PM (2013). Patterns of reassurance seeking and reassurance-related behaviours in OCD and anxiety disorders: the development of the reassurance seeking questionnaire. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy 41, 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kobori, O, Salkovskis, PM, Read, J, Lounes, N, Wong, V (2012). A qualitative study of the investigation of reassurance seeking in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders 1, 25–32.Google Scholar
Lebowitz, ER, Panza, KE, Bloch, MH. (2016). Family accommodation in obsessive-compulsive and anxiety disorders: a five-year update. Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics 16, 45–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lochner, C, Mogotsi, M, du Toit, PL, Kaminer, D, Niehaus, DJ, Stein, DJ (2003). Quality of life in anxiety disorders: a comparison of obsessive-compulsive disorder, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder. Psychopathology 36, 255–262.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rachman, S (2002). A cognitive theory of compulsive checking. Behaviour Research and Therapy 40, 625–639.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Renshaw, KD, Chambless, DL, Steketee, G (2003). Perceived criticism predicts severity of anxiety symptoms after behavioral treatment in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and panic disorder with agoraphobia. Journal of Clinical Psychology 59, 411–421.Google Scholar
Salkovskis, PM (1999). Understanding and treating obsessive-compulsive disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy 37, S29–52.Google Scholar
Salkovskis, PM, Wroe, AL, Gledhill, A, Morrison, N, Forrester, E, Richards, C, Reynolds, M, Thorpe, S (2000). Responsibility, attitudes and interpretations are characteristic of obsessive compulsive disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy 38, 347–372.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Segal, DL, Hersen, M, Van Hasselt, VB (1994). Reliability of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R: an evaluative review. Comprehensive Psychiatry 35, 316–327.Google Scholar
Shafran, R, Ralph, J, Tallis, F (1995). Obsessive-compulsive symptoms and the family. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic 59, 472–479.Google Scholar
Steketee, G (1997). Disability and family burden in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 42, 919–928.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steketee, G, Pruyn, NA (1998). Families of individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Theory, Research, and Treatment, pp. 120–140. Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Stein, DJ, Roberts, M, Hollander, E, Rowland, C, Serebro, P (1996). Quality of life and pharmaco-economic aspects of obsessive-compulsive disorder. A South African survey. South African medical Journal [= Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir geneeskunde] 86, 1579–1582.Google Scholar
Storch, EA, Lehmkuhl, H, Pence, SL Jr, Geffken, GR, Ricketts, E, Storch, JF, Murphy, TK (2009). Parental experiences of having a child with obsessive-compulsive disorder: associations with clinical characteristics and caregiver adjustment. Journal of Child and Family Studies 18, 249–258.Google Scholar
Torres, AR, Hoff, NT, Padovani, CR, Ramos-Cerqueira, AT (2012). Dimensional analysis of burden in family caregivers of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences 66, 432–441.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Noppen, B, Steketee, G (2009). Testing a conceptual model of patient and family predictors of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms. Behaviour Research and Therapy 47, 18–25.Google Scholar
Veltro, F, Magliano, L, Lobrace, S, Morosini, PL, Maj, M. (1994). Burden on key relatives of patients with schizophrenia vs neurotic disorders: a pilot study. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 29, 66–70.Google Scholar
Vikas, A, Avasthi, A, Sharan, P (2011). Psychosocial impact of obsessive-compulsive disorder on patients and their caregivers: a comparative study with depressive disorder. International Journal of Social Psychiatry 57, 45–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.