Sensitivity to being betrayed and betraying others in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Abstract:Objectives Mental contamination (MC) describes subjective internal feelings of ‘dirtiness’ which are experienced in the absence of direct physical contact/contaminants. There isevidence of a link between MC in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and the experience of past betrayals. However, it has also been noted that “perpetrators” also experience MC. We aimed to replicate the previous finding of specificity of OCD for sensitivity to being betrayed, and to extend this by evaluating whether people with high MC OCD are also relatively more sensitive to the idea that they might betray others compared to those with low levels of MC OCD.Design A cross-sectional, between-groups design was used.Method Four groups, high MC OCD (N= 60), low MC OCD (N=61), depression (N=28) andnon-clinical controls (N=46) completed online questionnaires. Participants were recruitedthrough the National Health Service (NHS) and social media.Results Relative to all groups, the high MC OCD group had significantly higher scores both for betrayal sensitivity and sensitivity to betraying others. The depression group showed similar levels to low MC OCD in betrayal sensitivity but were significantly lower (and comparable to non-clinical controls) in sensitivity to betraying others.Conclusions Betrayal sensitivity occurs trans-diagnostically. There may be a specific linkbetween the development of OCD and the perception of betraying others, perhaps linked to the trauma of being betrayed making those so affected more likely to worry about their own responsibility for betraying others.