Cognitive error characteristics of rumination and cleaning dimensions of obsessive-compulsive disorder

Objective: Cognitive errors in psychiatric disorders have been frequently investigated. In this study, we aimed to investigate the cognitive errors, cognitive domains including interpersonal relationships (IP) and personal achievements (PA), and psychiatric comorbidity in the rumination (R) and cleaning (C) dimensions of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Methods: The disorder symptoms were assessed via the Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Inventory (MOCI) and Symptom Check List-90-Revised (SCL-90-R). The Cognitive Distortions Scale (CDS) was used to evaluate cognitive errors. Results: There were 31 female patients with OCD-R, 31 female patients with OCD-C and 31 healthy female controls. The mean age and the mean education level of the patient and control groups were similar (p=0.461 and p=0.203, respectively). The patient and control groups were different in terms of MOCI, SCL90-R, and CDS scores (p<0.05). There were significant differences between the OCD-R and the OCD-C groups in terms of MOCI, SCL-90-R and CDS-IP scores (p<0.05). The CDS scores of the patients who had cognitive behavioral therapy history were lower than those who did not. In the OCD-R group, there was a significant correlation between psychiatric symptoms and cognitive errors (p<0.05). ROC analysis determined that CDS-IP moderately predicted OCD-R. Regression analysis showed that CDS cannot be used in prediction of R and C subdimensions of OCD. Discussion: Psychiatric symptom-cognitive error correlation was more prominent in rumination dimension. In the rumination dimension, cognitive errors related to interpersonal relationships were higher than the cleaning dimension. However, advanced analyzes reveal that further studies are needed to clarify this issue.