Excessive reassurance-seeking (ERS) is a common problem among both obsessive-compulsive and depressed populations. However, the content and cognitive processes involved in ERS may differ in these populations according to the unique cognitive and behavioral characteristics demonstrated by each group. To assess factors involved in the onset, maintenance and termination of ERS and repeated checking, the current investigation employed a semi-structured interview with non-depressed obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) respondents (n=15), clinically depressed individuals without OCD (n=15), and healthy control participants (n=20). Results showed that whereas individuals with OCD reported seeking reassurance primarily about perceived general threats (e.g., fire, theft), the depressed group reported seeking reassurance primarily about perceived social threats (e.g., abandonment, loss of support). Clinical participants reported greater anxiety, sadness and perceived threat in association with ERS and repeated checking than healthy control participants. These findings are discussed in terms of cognitive-behavioral models of OCD and depression.

The Vancouver Obsessional-Compulsive Inventory (VOCI) and the Symmetry Ordering and Arranging Questionnaire (SOAQ) are self-report measures that assess a wide variety of symptoms and features of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) including checking, contamination, obsessions, hoarding, "just right", indecisiveness, and symmetry, ordering and arranging obsessions and compulsions. The original English versions of the VOCI and SOAQ have been shown to demonstrate excellent psychometric properties. The present study examined the reliability and validity of French translations of these measures in a non-clinical sample, and also involved the collection of supplementary psychometric information about the English versions of the scales from a new sample. Volunteer undergraduate students completed questionnaire packages including the VOCI and SOAQ, as well as measures of obsessive-compulsive, phobic and depressive symptomatology in their native language of either French or English. Results indicate that the French versions of the VOCI and SOAQ demonstrate similar and excellent psychometric properties to the English versions and that these measures are highly valid and reliable assessment tools for use in clinical and research applications in both languages.

Cognitive-behavioral theory suggests that anxiety-control strategies such as neutralization, distraction and various forms of safety behavior have the potential to diminish the effectiveness of and/or interfere with exposure treatment. Yet, it is common practice when treating individuals with anxiety disorders to employ various anxiety-control strategies as a means of assisting clients/patients with difficult exposure situations. Questions surrounding the issue of which anxiety-control strategies help vs. hinder exposure-based treatments (and under which circumstances) have been a topic of much investigation and continue to be a focus of theoretical debate. The present article reviews several key studies which collectively shed some light on this debate. The evidence suggests that clients' anxiety-control strategies may be less likely to become counter-productive when: (i) they promote increases in self-efficacy, (ii) they do not demand excessive attentional resources, (iii) they enable greater approach behavior and integration of corrective information (via 'disconfirmatory experiences'), and (iv) they do not promote misattributions of safety. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed, and future directions for research in this area are suggested.

Inflated perceptions of responsibility are hypothesized to contribute to compulsive checking. Reassurance seeking, proposed to be a form of checking, may exacerbate checking behaviour in the long run. A sample of non-clinical participants (N = 100) performed a complex manual classification task under 1 of 4 experimental conditions: high responsibility-high reassurance, high responsibility-low reassurance, low responsibility-high reassurance, or low responsibility-low reassurance, and provided ratings of anxiety, urges to check, urges to seek reassurance, and confidence both before and after experimental manipulations were employed. Higher levels of perceived responsibility were associated with the maintenance of compulsive urges and doubt. Results are discussed in terms of cognitive and behavioural models of obsessive-compulsive disorder, and in terms of directions for future research.

Excessive reassurance seeking is a common problem among individuals diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Given the proposed functional similarities between OCD-related reassurance seeking and compulsive checking (Rachman, 2002), it was hypothesized that some of the factors contributing to the onset and maintenance of episodes of these two behaviours might be shared, whereas other factors (e.g., ambiguity of feedback) may play a unique role in the persistence of reassurance seeking. The current experiment examined how manipulations of threat, responsibility, and ambiguity of feedback impacted upon nonclinical participants' (N = 176) anxiety and compulsive urges (to seek reassurance and to check) in a series of experimental vignettes. Consistent with hypotheses, higher levels of perceived threat, responsibility and ambiguity of feedback were associated with higher anxiety and compulsive urges. Results are discussed in terms of cognitive-behavioural models of, and treatments for OCD.