Top

Published in:

01-04-2017 | Brief Report

OCD Taboo Thoughts and Stigmatizing Attitudes in Clinicians

Authors: Daniel S. Steinberg, Chad T. Wetterneck

Published in: Community Mental Health Journal | Issue 3/2017

Abstract

Individuals who suffer from obsessive–compulsive disorder have persistent intrusive thoughts that cause severe distress that impairs daily functioning. These individuals often conceal their intrusive thoughts and delay help-seeking for fear of being stigmatized. Stigma can be problematic when it is present among mental health professionals because they may distance themselves from their clients and have a negative outlook on treatment outcome. To date there has not been any research that focuses on stigma that clinician’s may hold towards obsessive–compulsive disorder or specific obsessions; however, there is evidence that mental health professionals may have prejudices towards individuals who suffer from other mental illnesses. The current study aimed to explore clinician and student clinician attitudes about obsessional content from varying symptom dimensions. Results indicated participants were more likely to socially reject or be concerned by individuals with obsessions related to contamination, harming, and sexual obsessions than those with scrupulous obsessions, and that they would be less likely to reveal sexual obsessions to others if they were experiencing them than the other three types of obsessions.

Available only for authorised users

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th edn.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.CrossRef

Angermeyer, M. C., & Dietrich, S. (2006). Public beliefs about and attitudes towards people with mental illness: A review of population studies. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 113, 163–179.CrossRefPubMed

Ayuso-Mateos, J. L. (2007). Global burden of obsessive–compulsive disorder in the year 2000. World Health Organization.

Belloch, A., Del Vale, G., Morillo, C., Carrio, C., & Cabedo, E. (2009). To seek advice or not to seek advice about the problem: The help-seeking dilemma for obsessive–compulsive disorder. Social psychiatry and psychiatric. Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.), 44, 257–264.

Cathey, A., & Wetterneck, C. T. (2013). Stigma and disclosure of intrusive thoughts about sexual themes. Journal of Obsessive Compulsive & Related Disorders, 2, 439–444.CrossRef

Glazier, K., et al. (2015). Stigma and shame as barriers to treatment in obsessive–compulsive and related disorders. Journal of Depression and Anxiety, 4(3), 191.

Glazier, K., Czlixte, R., Rothschild, R., & Pinto, A. (2013). High rates of OCD symptom misidentification by mental health professionals. Annals of Clinical Psychiatry, 25(3), 201–209.PubMed

Grant, J. E., Pinto, A., Gunnip, M., Mancebo, M. C., Eisen, J. L., & Rasmussen, S. A. (2006). Sexual obsessions and clinical correlates in adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 47(5), 325–329.

Kassam, A., Glozier, N., Leese, M., Henderson, C., & Thornicroft, G. (2010). Development and responsiveness of a scale to measure clinician’s attitudes to people with mental illness (medical student version). Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 122, 153–161.CrossRefPubMed

Landino, J. M., Roy, J. M. & Buckley, J.M. (2009). Stigma of mental illness continues to impede early diagnosis and treatment of affective illness in the United States. Priory Lodge Education Ltd. Retrieved from http://priory.com/psychiatry/Stigma_Mental_Disorder.htm.

Lauber, C., Nordt, C., Braunschweig, C., & Rossler, W. (2006). Do mental health professionals stigmatize their clients? Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 113(429), 51–59.CrossRef

Lopez, A. D., & Murray, C. C. J. L. (1998). The global burden of disease, 1990–2020. Nature Medicine, 4(11), 1241–1243.CrossRefPubMed

Marcks, B. A., Berlin, K. S., Woods, D. W., & Davies, W. H. (2007). Impact of tourette syndrome: A preliminary investigation of the effects of disclosure on peer perceptions and social functioning. Psychiatry, 70(1), 59–67.

Marques, L., LeBlank, N. J., Weingarden, H. M., Timpano, K. R., Jenike, M., & Wilhelm, S. (2010). Barriers to treatment and service utilization in an internet sample of individuals with obsessive–compulsive symptoms. Depression and Anxiety, 27, 470–475.CrossRefPubMed

Newth, S., & Rachman, S. (2001). The concealment of obsessions. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 39(4), 457–464.CrossRefPubMed

Salkovskis, P. M., Forrester, E., & Richards, C. (1998). Cognitive-behavioural approach to understanding obsessional thinking. British Journal of Psychiatry, 35, 53–63.

Simonds, L. M., & Thorpe, S. J. (2003). Attitudes toward obsessive–compulsive disorders. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric. Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.), 38, 331–336.

Smith, A. H., Wetterneck, C. T., Hart, J. M., Short, M. B., & Björgvinsson, T. (2012). Differences in obsessional beliefs and emotion appraisal in obsessive compulsive symptom presentation. Journal of Obsessive–Compulsive and Related Disorders, 1, 54–61.CrossRef

Storch, E. A. (2015). What to make of misidentification rates in obsessive–compulsive disorder. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 76(6), 820–821.CrossRef

Teachman, B. A., & Clerkin, E. M. (2007). Obsessional beliefs and the implicit and explicit morality of intrusive thoughts. Cognition and Emotion, 21(5), 999–1024.CrossRef

Williams, M. T., Domanico, J., Marques, L., Leblanc, N., & Turkheimer, E. (2012). Barriers to treatment among African Americans with OCD. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 26(1), 555–563.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Williams, M. T., Mugno, B., Franklin, M. E., & Faber, S. (2013). Symptom dimensions in obsessive–compulsive disorder: Phenomenology and treatment with exposure and ritual prevention. Psychopathology, 46, 365–376.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Zohar, J., Fostick, L., Black, D., & Lopez-Ibor, J. (2007). Special populations. CNS Spectrums, 12(2 Suppl 3), 36–42.CrossRef

Title: OCD Taboo Thoughts and Stigmatizing Attitudes in Clinicians
Authors: Daniel S. Steinberg
Chad T. Wetterneck
Publication date: 01-04-2017
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Community Mental Health Journal / Issue 3/2017
Print ISSN: 0010-3853
Electronic ISSN: 1573-2789
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-016-0055-x

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

OCD Taboo Thoughts and Stigmatizing Attitudes in Clinicians

Abstract

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 3/2017

Sense of Coherence in Religious Christian Orthodox Women in Greece

Reliability and Validity of a Newly Developed Measure of Citizenship Among Persons with Mental Illnesses

Opportunities for Integrating Physical Health Within Assertive Community Treatment Teams: Results from Practitioner Focus Groups

Decreasing the Stigma of Mental Illness Through a Student-Nurse Mentoring Program: A Qualitative Study

A Successful Implementation Strategy to Support Adoption of Decision Making in Mental Health Services

Factors Associated with Perceived Depression of Korean Adults: Secondary Data from the Korean Community Health Survey