14 DAY TRIAL // According to the conclusions of a new scientific study conducted by researchers at the Concordia University, it would appear that 94 percent of all people experience unwanted, unwelcome, and intrusive thoughts, as well as images and impulses. Previously, it was thought that these manifestations were endemic only among patients suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD).
The investigation, which also included 15 other universities from across the globe, finds that nearly everyone obsesses over things such as the cleanliness of their hands or is concerned with whether or not they forget to close the door or turn off the faucet. OCD patients usually experience such thoughts with alarming intensity and frequency, scientists explain.
One of the aspects used to differentiate between mentally healthy people and those who have OCD is the consequence that these thoughts have. While the former tend to worry about these things for a moment or two, the latter tend to obsess over them for hours on end. They cannot shake these thoughts unless they actually go home and check to see the state of affairs for themselves.
The new investigation was carried out on a total of 777 university students, who participated from 13 countries across six continents. A detailed list of all conclusions was published in the latest issue of the esteemed Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, PsychCentral reports. The research team was led by Concordia psychology professor Adam Radomsky.
The main result was that the thoughts, images, and impulses that characterize OCD are more widespread among the general population than researchers first estimated. This study opens the way for therapists around the world to develop methods of addressing OCD that work across cultures, the team says. One of the ways to do that is to assure patients they are not alone in experiencing the thoughts they do.
“Confirming that these thoughts are extremely common helps us reassure patients who may think that they are very different from everybody else. This study shows that it’s not the unwanted, intrusive thoughts that are the problem – it’s what you make of those thoughts. And that’s at the heart of our cognitive and behavioral interventions for helping people overcome OCD,” Radomsky says.
Another thing that separates OCD sufferers from the general public is the fact that they worry about intrusive thoughts more often and for longer periods of time. “OCD patients experience these thoughts more often and are more upset by them, but the thoughts themselves seem to be indistinguishable from those occurring in the general population,” the research leader goes on to say.
Such results are encouraging because they promote the use of cognitive and behavioral therapies for addressing obsessive-compulsive disorders, rather than prescribing medication all of the time. “We’re more similar than we are different. People with OCD and related problems are very much like everyone else,” Radomsky concludes.