Disgust in Anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders: Recent Findings and Future Directions

Abstract

Recent developments include clarification of the role of distinct disgust-relevant vulnerabilities in the etiology of anxiety and OCD, an improved understanding of the neurobiology of disgust processing in OCD, and an increased focus on disgust-related mechanisms that contribute to psychopathology, such as disgust-based learning and emotion regulation. Disgust proneness is increasingly linked with symptoms of anxiety and OCD. However, further examination of the mechanisms that account for the roles of distinct disgust-relevant vulnerabilities is needed, and studies that directly examine disgust during the course of treatment are limited. Increasingly, the field has moved toward experimental investigation of specific disgust-relevant mechanisms that influence the etiology and treatment of OCD and related anxiety disorders.

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

“…The Greek version of the DS-R could also be used to adapt and validate other scales of disgust in the Greek population, which could be useful in clinical settings. An example of these scales is the Propensity and Sensitivity Scale (DPSS) [60], which assesses—in addition to the disgust propensity—disgust sensitivity (negative appreciation of experiencing disgust), which have also been associated with psychopathology [61,62]. Finally, given that our results outlined the strength of the general factor of digust, future research could assess the dimensionality of the scale, by using the bi-factor model, in participants from various cultures, and further revising the scale to improve its structure.…”

Habitual, but not momentary, avoidance strategy use moderates the association between disgust sensitivity and affective response to a disgust-inducing film clip.

“…For example, more intense or frequent experiences of disgust have been associated with anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders (Knowles, Jessup, & Olatunji, 2018) and eating disorders (Anderson et al, 2018). More intense or frequent experiences of disgust may be further related to maladaptive behavioral and social consequences, with people who report greater disgust being less willing to obtain colorectal cancer screens (Reynolds, Consedine, Pizarro, & Bissett, 2013) and more likely to avoid feared stimuli (e.g., Shook et al, 2019;van Overveld, de Jong, & Peters, 2010).…”

“Fake it till You Make it”! Contaminating Rubber Hands (“Multisensory Stimulation Therapy”) to Treat Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

“…Notably, disgust plays a key role in OCD and is a strong predictor of contamination fears (e.g., Olatunji et al, 2005; see also Deacon and Olatunji, 2007;Olatunji et al, 2007; for reviews, see Ludvik et al, 2015;Knowles et al, 2018). Although disgust and contamination aversion overlap, they are indeed distinct concepts.…”