Obsessive-compulsive symptoms in pregnancy: Their relationship with obsessive beliefs and obsessive-compulsive personality traits.

Literature findings are limited and inconsistent on the relationship between obsessive beliefs and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) and to our knowledge no data are available in pregnant population. Additionally, an interesting field that has not been adequately studied is the relationship between obsessive-compulsive personality traits and OCS while there are no corresponding studies in perinatal period. The aims of the study were to examine the relationship between OCS presented in pregnancy and obsessive beliefs considered to underlie them as well as their association with obsessive-compulsive personality traits. 30 pregnant women with OCS, regardless of their underlying diagnosis, were recruited from a University Psychiatric Hospital and privately. They completed the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), the Yale-Brown Obsessive- Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), the Dysfunctional Beliefs Questionnaire-44 (OBQ-44), the Leyton Trait Scale and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The main symptoms were aggression (73.3%), contamination (53.3%) obsessions and cleansing/washing (50%), checking (43.3%) compulsions. Pregnant women with obsessive-compulsive personality traits displayed symmetry/exactness obsessions (p=0.020) and cleansing/washing (p=0.011) compulsions as predominant types of OCS and greater severity of compulsions (p=0.049). The results of the logistic regression model suggest that obsessive beliefs of importance/control of thoughts and of responsibility/threat estimation predicted OCS while the belief of perfectionism/certainty did not predict any dimension of OCS. It is noteworthy that most observed relationships between obsessive beliefs and OCS remained even after controlling for variables of anxiety and depression, suggesting that obsessive beliefs have a specific relationship with OCS which is independent of other forms of psychopathology. Depressive symptoms comorbidity increased OCS severity, while in comorbidity with anxiety symptoms no difference in severity of OCS was found. Further research is needed to test our findings in larger and more diverse samples.

The Emotion of Disgust among Medical and Psychology Students.

The emotion of disgust evolved as a way to protect oneself from illness and is associated with aspects of disease avoidance. Disgust Scale-Revised (DS-R) (Olatunji et al., 2008) measures the disgust propensity of three kinds of disgust (core, animal reminder, contamination). Contextual factors, such as academic background, might influence DS-R scoring, especially among medical students, where the notion of disease is central. We examined DS-R scoring and the choice of postgraduate studies in medical (n = 94) and psychology (n = 97) students. In an anonymous web-based survey, participants completed the DS-R and a questionnaire including plans for postgraduate studies. Females outnumbered males and scored higher in total DS-R score (p = 0.003). Psychology students scored higher in all three kinds of disgust (p < 0.001 for core disgust and animal reminder, p = 0.069 for contamination disgust), indicating a higher level of disease avoidance. Medical students willing to follow Internal Medicine scored higher in core disgust (p < 0.05), while psychology students willing to study Experimental Psychology scored lower in the animal reminder subscale (p = 0.019 and p < 0.001 for the association between these subscales and the orientation of Medical and Psychology Students, respectively). In conclusion, disgust propensity as rated by DS-R is related to academic background and orientation preferences in postgraduate studies.

Psychometric Properties, Factor Structure, and Evidence for Measurement Invariance in the Greek Version of the Disgust Scale-Revised (DS-R).

The Disgust Scale has been designed to measure disgust propensity-the individual ease in experiencing disgust. The present study aimed to explore the validity, reliability, the factor structure, and the measurement invariance of the Greek version of the Disgust Scale-Revised (DS-R). A sample of 754 healthy participants completed the Greek version of the DS-R. A subset (n = 363) also completed the revised Symptom checked list and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, in order to examine the concurrent validity. Exploratory and Confirmatory factor analyses in different subsets were used to examine the factor structure. Multiple indicators-multiple causes model (MIMIC) models were used to assess the measurement invariance across gender and age. Demographic influences were assessed using t-tests, ANOVA, and Pearson's correlations. Exploratory factor analysis concluded to two and three factor models, with a factor structure similar to the ones proposed in the literature. Confirmatory factor analysis and bi-factor analysis provided evidence in favor of the three-factor solution. Measurement invariance test revealed differences in six items across gender, and three items across age. The psychometric properties of the factors were satisfactory. Demographic influences on the responses were present, especially with respect to gender. The Greek version of the DS-R demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties, making it suitable for use for the Greek population.

Combined Case of Blood-Injury-Injection Phobia and Social Phobia: Behavior Therapy Management and Effectiveness through Tilt Test.

The efficacy of behavior therapy based mainly on real-life exposure situations as well as applied tension was examined for a combined case of blood-injury-injection (BII) phobia and social anxiety disorder. Treatment involved 28 behavior therapy sessions, while applied tension technique was also described and practiced. The specific contribution of social skills techniques, fantasy, and real-life situations exposure was examined in a single case design. The subject was a 39-year-old male with anxiety symptoms when confronting an audience, as well as symptoms of the autonomic nervous system (bradycardia and syncope), which were better explained by BII. All self-report measures regarding fear, social phobia, and anxiety were reduced after behavior therapy and remained maintained at followup, while BII decreased further after applied tension techniques. The contribution of behavior therapy to the overall outcome of the case is considered significant for many reasons that are discussed in the pape.