ABSTRACT
Objective:The present study aim to explore the difference and characteristics of disgust in obsessive-compulsive disorder(OCD) with/without contamination washing symptoms,adding to the growing literature on the heterogeneity and clinical treatment of OCD.Methods:Totally 66 patients with OCD meeting the criteria of International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems,Tenth Revision (ICD-10) and 51 healthy controls matched with gender,age and level of education were recruited.All patients were divided into two subgroups namely washing symptoms group(n =26) and other symptoms group(n =40) based on the contamination washing symptoms.Participants respectively completed the lexical decision task.The results of the tasks were indicators reflecting the disgust feelings,including the accuracy,reaction time to core disgust words,moral disgust words,neutral words,and the rating intensity of disgust provoked by all of the words.Results:The reaction time for core disgust words[(723 ± 89)ms,(746 ± 95) ms vs.(676 ± 96) ms] and moral disgust words[(772 ± 98)ms,(796± 92)ms vs.(723 ± 94)ms] were longer in both group of patients with OCD than in healthy controls.The patients also rated higher degree of disgust for core disgust words[(6.7 ± 1.5),(6.9 ± 1.6)vs.(5.8 ± 1.7)]and moral disgust words [(6.8 ± 1.7),(7.2 ± 1.3)vs.(6.3 ± 1.5)] than healthy controls (Ps ＜0.05).But there were no difference existed between patients with and without contamination washing symptoms on the results of lexical decision task(Ps ＜0.05).Conclusion:It shows that patients with OCD tend to experience intense disgust feelings,and there is no difference between contamination washing symptoms and other symptoms on disgust.These findings suggest that intense disgust feelings may play a role on the etiology and maintenance of OCD,and reducing disgust could be a potential approach for OCD treatment.