C. Sica

A study of the psychometric properties of the Obsessive Beliefs Inventory and Interpretations of Intrusions Inventory on clinical Italian individuals.

Forty-three individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), 17 with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and 50 non-clinical controls (SC), completed the Italian versions of the Obsessive Beliefs Questionnaire (OBQ) and the Interpretations of Intrusions Inventory (III), along with measures of obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms, depression, anxiety and worry. OBQ and III showed an excellent reliability and temporal stability. The six OBQ subscales were reasonably distinct from each other, whereas the three subscales of the III were highly interrelated. The OBQ, and in less measure the III, discriminated between OCD, GAD, and normal controls. In the OCD cohort, the two instruments correlated moderately with a measure of obsessive-compulsive symptoms but also with a measure of worry. However, a linear regression analysis evidenced a specific relationship between the OBQ and obsessive-compulsive symptoms over and above worry. Overall, at least three cognitive domains (intolerance of uncertainty, excessive concern about the importance of controlling ones thoughts and perfectionism) seemed specific to OCD, whereas overimportance of thoughts and inflated responsibility barely discriminate clinically anxious individuals from non-clinical ones. It is concluded that OBQ and III are useful measures in Italian individuals and that more research is warranted to possibly refine these two instruments.

Culture and psychopathology: superstition and obsessive-compulsive cognitions and symptoms in a non-clinical Italian sample

Two-hundred and fifty-eight high and low superstitious students completed the Italian versions of well-established measures of obsessive-compulsive cognitions and symptoms, depression, anxiety and worry. After controlling for anxiety and depression, high superstitious subjects scored higher than low-superstitious on measures of overestimation of threat, impaired mental control, contamination and worry. A logistic regression analysis showed that overestimation of threat and perfectionism discriminated high from low superstitious subjects over and above anxiety and depression measures. However, perfectionism was negatively correlated with superstitiousness. One hypothesis for this result was that perfectionism is more closely linked with checking behaviors (which, in fact, did not characterize our group of superstitious individuals) under the assumption that specific cognitive domains may account for specific obsessive-compulsive behavior in a meaningful way. It was concluded that superstitiousness may be a predisposing factor for general instead of specific psychopathology, but that cultural factors may moderate the relation between superstitiousness and psychopathology.