Self-compassion and emotion regulation difficulties in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Self-compassion and emotion regulation difficulties in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Clin Psychol Psychother. 2020 Mar 27;: Authors: Eichholz A, Schwartz C, Meule A, Heese J, Neumüller J, Voderholzer U Abstract Lack of self-compassion and deficits in emotion regulation are associated with various psychopathological symptoms and may play a role in the development and maintenance of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, further empirical research is still needed to better understand these constructs in the context of this disorder. The present study investigated the relation between self-compassion, emotion regulation difficulties, obsessive beliefs, and obsessive-compulsive symptom severity in 90 OCD patients using self-report questionnaires. Symptom severity and obsessive beliefs were negatively correlated to self-compassion and positively associated with emotion regulation difficulties. Additionally, self-compassion showed a negative relation to emotion regulation difficulties. Emotion regulation difficulties - but not self-compassion - predicted symptom severity when controlling for obsessive beliefs and depression in a hierarchical regression analysis. Further analyses showed that emotion regulation deficits mediated the relationship between self-compassion and OCD symptom severity. Our results provide preliminary evidence that targeting self-compassion and putting more emphasis on emotion regulation deficits might be pr...
Source: Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Clin Psychol Psychother Source Type: research