Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-2n9c9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-14T08:54:29.549Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Interpersonal Aspects of Responsibility and Obsessive Compulsive Symptoms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 January 2006

Andrea R. Ashbaugh
Affiliation:
Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
Laurie A. Gelfand
Affiliation:
Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
Adam S. Radomsky
Affiliation:
Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the 'Save PDF' action button.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with an inflated sense of responsibility to prevent harm. Increasingly, it has been recognized that inflated responsibility is a complex phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to examine how interpersonal aspects of responsibility are related to symptoms of OCD. Three new valid and reliable scales assessing beliefs about other people's responsibility, comparative beliefs about responsibility, beliefs about the allocation of responsibility, and beliefs about how others allocate responsibility were used to evaluate interpersonal influences on responsibility. Whereas personal beliefs about responsibility were related to all OCD symptom types, it appears that beliefs about other people's responsibility were related to only a subgroup of symptom types. Furthermore, the belief that one is more responsible than others predicts OC symptoms beyond commonly assessed personal beliefs about responsibility. Finally, individuals with OC symptoms tend to allocate more responsibility to themselves than others, compared to individuals without OC symptoms, despite the fact that individuals with OC symptoms believe that others tend to allocate responsibility equitably. Results are discussed in terms of cognitive models of OCD.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2006 British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.