Abnormalities of emotional awareness and perception in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder

Two systems for empathy in obsessive-compulsive disorder: mentalizing and experience sharing

“…The isolation mechanism can help OCD patients control intolerable and negative emotions by detaching affective elements from the situation. 30,57 In addition, previous neuroimaging studies of empathy have also suggested associations between OCD and emotional processing. 56 The neural correlates of empathy involve temporal and frontal lobe regions including the cingulate, insula, medial prefrontal cortex, 18,58,59 and orbitofrontal cortex.…”

“…55 In fact, individuals with OCD have been reported to be more prone to disgust. 56 Isolation of affect 30 (disconnecting feelings from thoughts) for negative emotion could be a defense in OCD. The isolation mechanism can help OCD patients control intolerable and negative emotions by detaching affective elements from the situation.…”

“…29 Only two studies have researched the relationship between OCD and empathy. 13,30 In these studies, 13,30 the authors found that patients with OCD exhibited significantly higher levels of affective empathy (i.e., empathic concern and personal discomfort), as evaluated with the interpersonal reactivity index (IRI) as a measure of empathic ability. Jolliffe & Farrington 31,32 highlighted at least two serious limitations of the IRI: the first is that empathy is confused with sympathy, a distinct, albeit closely linked construct.…”

Effective behavioural strategies for reducing disgust in contamination-related OCD: A review

“…The association between disgust, OCD, and rigid moral reasoning was supported by Whitton et al (2014) in OCD patients. Poor attentional shifting in students (Adams & Lohr, 2012) and problems with perspective taking in OCD outpatients (Kang, Namkoong, Yoo, Jhung, & Kim, 2012) have also been found to be associated with disgust and OCD symptoms.…”

The Role of Alexithymia in the Development of Functional Motor Symptoms (Conversion Disorder)

“…This therefore suggests that OCPD may not be an independent risk factor for the development of functional motor disorder and that alexithymia is a more relevant personality construct for understanding the mechanism of developing functional symptoms. However of relevance is that Kang et al 36 have recently found an overlap between alexithymia and obsessive-compulsive disorder with 41% comorbidity. To clarify this further, future studies should include an assessment of obsessive-compulsive disorder, as well as OCPD.…”