Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T12:58:38.736Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Patterns of Reassurance Seeking and Reassurance-Related Behaviours in OCD and Anxiety Disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 September 2012

Osamu Kobori  and
Paul M. Salkovskis
Osamu Kobori*
Affiliation:
Chiba University, Japan
Paul M. Salkovskis
Affiliation:
University of Bath, UK
*
Reprint requests to Osamu Kobori, Centre for Forensic Mental Health, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background: Reassurance seeking is particularly prominent in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and may be important in OCD maintenance. Aims: This study used a new self-report questionnaire to measure the range of manifestations of reassurance-seeking behaviours, describing their sources from which they seek, frequency, process (how they seek), and consequences (as opposed to triggers and motivations). This study also attempts to identify the degree to which reassurance is specific to OCD as opposed to panic disorder. Method: Reassurance Seeking Questionnaire (ReSQ) was administered to 153 individuals with OCD, 50 individuals with panic disorder with/without agoraphobia, and 52 healthy controls. The reliability and validity of the measure was evaluated and found to be satisfactory. Results: Reassurance seeking was found to be more frequent in both anxiety disorders relative to healthy controls. Individuals diagnosed with OCD were found to seek reassurance more intensely and carefully, and were more likely to employ “self-reassurance” than the other two groups. Conclusions: Further investigation of reassurance will enable better understanding of its role in the maintenance of anxiety disorders in general and OCD in particular.

Keywords

Obsessive-compulsive disordercognitive modelpanic disorderreassurance seekingReassurance Seeking Questionnaire (ReSQ)
Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , January 2013 , pp. 1 - 23
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2012

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

Abramowitz, J. S., Franklin, M. E. and Cahill, S. P. (2003). Approaches to common obstacles in the exposure-based treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 10, 14–22.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T., Epstein, N., Brown, G. and Steer, R. A. (1988). An inventory for measuring clinical anxiety: psychometric properties. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 893–897.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T. and Steer, R. A. (1987). Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Burns, G. L. (1995). Padua Inventory-Washington State University Revision. Pullman, WA: Author.Google Scholar
Clark, D. A. (2004). Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for OCD. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Cougle, J. R., Fitcha, K. E., Finchamb, F. D., Riccardia, C. J., Keoughc, M. E. and Timpano, K. R. (2012). Excessive reassurance seeking and anxiety pathology: tests of incremental associations and directionality. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 26, 117–125.Google Scholar
First, M., Spitzer, R., Gibbon, M. and Williams, J. (1996). Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders–Patient edition. New York: Biometrics Research Department, New York State Psychiatric Institute.Google Scholar
Floyd, F. J. and Widaman, K. F. (1995). Factor analysis in the development and refinement of clinical assessment instruments. Psychological Assessment, 7, 286–299.Google Scholar
Foa, E. B., Kozak, M. J., Salkovskis, P. M., Coles, M. and Amir, N. (1998). The validation of a new obsessive-compulsive disorder scale: the obsessive-compulsive inventory. Psychological Assessment, 3, 206–214.Google Scholar
Fransis, G. (1988). Childhood obsessive-compulsive disorder: extinction of compulsive reassurance-seeking. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 2, 361–366.Google Scholar
Hadjistavropoulos, H. D., Craig, K. D. and Hadjistavropoulos, T. (1998). Cognitive and behavioural responses to illness information: the role of health anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 149–164.Google Scholar
Kobori, O., Salkovskis, P. M., Read, J., Lounes, N. and 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
Lucock, M. P., Morley, S., White, C. and Peake, M. D. (1997). Responses of consecutive patients to reassurance after gastroscopy: results of a self-administered questionnaire survey. British Medical Journal, 315, 572–575.Google Scholar
Marks, I. M. (1981). Cure and Care of Neurosis. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
O'Connor, B. P. (2000). SPSS and SAS programs for determining the number of components using parallel analysis and Velicer's MAP test. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 32, 396–402.Google Scholar
Parrish, C. L. and Radomsky, A. S. (2006). An experimental investigation of responsibility and reassurance: relationships with compulsive checking. International Journal of Behavioral and Consultation Therapy, 2, 174–191.Google Scholar
Parrish, C. L. and Radomsky, A. S. (2010). Why do people seek reassurance and check repeatedly? An investigation of factors involved in compulsive behavior in OCD and depression. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 24, 211–222.Google Scholar
Rachman, S. (2002). A cognitive theory of compulsive checking. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40, 625–639.Google Scholar
Rachman, S. and Hodgson, R. (1980). Obsessions and Compulsions. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Rector, N. A., Kamkarb, K, Cassina, S. E., Ayearstd, L. E. and Laposa, J. M. (2011). Assessing excessive reassurance seeking in the anxiety disorders. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 25, 911–917.Google Scholar
Salkovskis, P. M. (1985). Obsessional-compulsive problems: a cognitive-behavioural analysis. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 23, 571–583.Google Scholar
Salkovskis, P. M. (1991). The importance of behaviour in the maintenance of anxiety and panic: a cognitive account. Behavioural Psychotherapy, 19, 6–19.Google Scholar
Salkovskis, P. M. (1996). Avoidance behaviour is motivated by threat beliefs: a possible resolution of the cognition-behaviour debate. In Salkovskis, P. M. (Ed.), Trends in Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies (pp. 25–42). Chichester: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Salkovskis, P. M. (1999). Understanding and treating obsessive-compulsive disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 37, S29–S52.Google Scholar
Salkovskis, P. M., Forrester, E., Richards, H. C. and Morrison, N. (1998). The devil is in the detail: conceptualising and treating obsessional problems. In Tarrier, N., Wells, A. and Haddock, G. (Eds.), Treating Complex Cases: the CBT approach (pp. 46–80). Chichester: Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Salkovskis, P. M. and Kobori, O. (2012). Self-reported patterns of response to different outcomes of reassurance seeking in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Manuscript submitted for publication.Google Scholar
Salkovskis, P. M. and Warwick, H. M. C. (1986). Morbid preoccupations, health anxiety and reassurance: a cognitive-behavioural approach to hypochondriasis. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 24, 597–602.Google Scholar
Salkovskis, P. M., Wroe, A. L., Gledhill, A., Morrison, N., Forrester, E., Richards, C., et al. (2000). Responsibility, attitudes, and interpretations are characteristic of obsessive compulsive disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 38, 347–372.Google Scholar
Steketee, G. S. (1993). Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Tolin, D. F. (2001). Bibliotherapy and extinction treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder in a 5-year old boy. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 40, 1111–1114.Google Scholar
van den Hout, M. and Kindt, M. (2004). Obsessive-compulsive disorder and the paradoxical effects of perseverative behaviour on experienced uncertainty. Journal of Behaviour Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 35, 165–181.Google Scholar
Warwick, H. M. C. and Salkovskis, P. M. (1985). Reassurance. British Medical Journal, 290, 1028.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Warwick, H. M. C. and Salkovskis, P. M. (1990). Hypochondriasis. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 28, 105–117.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.