In obsessive-compulsive disorder, autogenous and reactive obsessions are differentiated by disgust and mating strategies

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been conceptualized as the product of dysfunctional harm prevention systems accompanied by heightened negative emotions like disgust. However, models have not fully accounted for functional heterogeneity in OCD, such as the distinction between OCD subtypes (autogenous vs. reactive) and their differing profiles of relationships with other psychological constructs. The current investigation tested hypotheses about different expected associations between OCD subtypes, disgust, and mating strategies. In Study 1 (patients with self-reported diagnoses of OCD; n = 70), reactive obsessions were associated with higher pathogen disgust but had no associations with mating strategy. Autogenous obsessions had no associations with disgust domains but were associated with higher short-term (and lower long-term) mating orientation. In Study 2 (undergraduate sample; n = 458), reactive obsessions, again, were associated with heightened pathogen disgust but again had no association to mating strategy. Autogenous obsessions were associated with lower pathogen, moral, and sexual disgust, and again, higher short-term (and lower long-term) mating orientation. In both studies, we tested sexual disgust as a mediator of the relationship between autogenous obsessions and short-term mating. Significant mediation was found in Study 2, but not Study 1. Results demonstrate that reactive and autogenous forms of OCD are differentiated by disgust and mating strategy and have implications for evolutionary models of OCD.