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Sprengelmeyer et al. [Sprengelmeyer, R., Young, A. W., Pundt, I., Sprengelmeyer, A., Calder, A. J., Berrios, G., et al. (1997). Disgust implicated in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 264, 1767-1773] found that patients with OCD showed severely impaired recognition of facial expressions of disgust. This result has potential to provide a unique window into the psychopathology of OCD, but several published attempts to replicate this finding have failed. The current study compared OCD patients to normal controls and panic disorder patients on ability to recognize facial expressions of negative emotions. Overall, the OCD patients were impaired in their ability to recognize disgust expressions, but only 33% of patients showed this deficit. These deficits were related to OCD symptom severity and general functioning, factors that may account for the inconsistent findings observed in different laboratories.

Cognitive theories of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) posit that appraisals about the significance of thoughts are critical in the development and persistence of obsessions. Rachman [(1997). A cognitive theory of obsessions. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35, 793-802.] proposes that appraisals of unwanted thoughts distinguish clinical obsessions from normal intrusive thoughts; thoughts appraised as important and personally significant are expected to be upsetting and recur. Appraisals are also expected to be related to symptoms of OCD. To explore the features of normal appraisals of obsession-like thoughts, nonclinical participants in two studies rated the personal significance of intrusive thoughts portrayed in vignettes containing prototypical themes associated with primary obsessions: aggressive, sexual, and blasphemous thoughts. Unwanted intrusive thoughts that were described as occurring more frequently were appraised as more personally significant, but participants appraised these socially unacceptable thoughts similarly whether they imagined having personally experienced them or a friend confiding about having experienced them. Appraisals in both studies were related to subclinical OC symptoms and OC beliefs.

To examine whether metacognitive psychological skills, acquired in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), are also present in patients receiving medication treatments for prevention of depressive relapse and whether these skills mediate MBCT's effectiveness.This study, embedded within a randomized efficacy trial of MBCT, was the first to examine changes in mindfulness and decentering during 6-8 months of antidepressant treatment and then during an 18-month maintenance phase in which patients discontinued medication and received MBCT, continued on antidepressants, or were switched to a placebo. In total, 84 patients (mean age = 44 years, 58% female) were randomized to 1 of these 3 prevention conditions. In addition to symptom variables, changes in mindfulness, rumination, and decentering were assessed during the phases of the study.Pharmacological treatment of acute depression was associated with reductions in scores for rumination and increased wider experiences. During the maintenance phase, only patients receiving MBCT showed significant increases in the ability to monitor and observe thoughts and feelings as measured by the Wider Experiences (p.01) and Decentering (p.01) subscales of the Experiences Questionnaire and by the Toronto Mindfulness Scale. In addition, changes in Wider Experiences (p.05) and Curiosity (p.01) predicted lower Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression scores at 6-month follow-up.An increased capacity for decentering and curiosity may be fostered during MBCT and may underlie its effectiveness. With practice, patients can learn to counter habitual avoidance tendencies and to regulate dysphoric affect in ways that support recovery.

Cognitive theories of obsessions highlight appraisals of personal significance and thought suppression in the development and maintenance of intrusive thoughts. The current study examined the role of personal significance within the context of a thought suppression paradigm. The primary aim was to examine whether suppression would have differential effects for target thoughts appraised as personally meaningful versus relatively unimportant. A blasphemous thought served as the target thought, and highly religious and nonreligious participants were recruited. Participants completed a two-interval thought suppression task; during interval 1 they were randomly assigned to suppress or not suppress the target thought and during interval 2, all participants were given "do not suppress" instructions. Suppression resulted in sustained frequency of thoughts in contrast to the decline in thought frequency observed for non-suppression. Differential effects of suppression were found across the two groups. Moreover, suppression was associated with increased negative mood and anxiety. Results suggest that suppression of personally meaningful thoughts is a counterproductive strategy.