Unwanted Sexual Experiences and Cognitive Appraisals That Evoke Mental Contamination

Abstract

The present study demonstrated that an individual is at greatest risk of mental contamination if she has experienced rape/attempted rape, and if she makes a cognitive appraisal of violation regarding the incident.

Disgust as a unique affective predictor of mental contamination following sexual trauma

“…Mental contamination is theorized to emerge predominantly in response to mental events (e.g., thoughts, memories, images), or experiences involving negative human interactions such as violations of morality (e.g., sexual victimization or other violation), betrayal, or humiliation (Ishikawa, Kobori, & Shimizu, in press; Rachman, 2006, 2010; Rachman, Radomsky, Elliott, & Zysk, 2012). In contrast with contact contamination, sensations associated with mental contamination are typically described as diffuse, difficult to locate, with some individuals reporting feeling dirty “inside their bodies” or “under their skin” (Coughtrey Shafran, Lee et al, 2012).…”

“…For example, one study suggests that mental contamination concerns are experienced by nearly half of individuals with clinical diagnoses of OCD (Coughtrey, Shafran, Knibbs, & Rachman, 2012). Moreover, mental contamination concerns have been consistently shown to correlate with severity of PTSD symptoms following sexual trauma (Badour, Feldner, Babson, Blumenthal, & Dutton, 2013; Badour, Feldner, Blumenthal, & Bujarski, 2013; Fairbrother & Rachman, 2004; Ishikawa et al, in press; Olatunji, Elwood, Williams, & Lohr, 2008). As the vast majority of individuals with a history of sexual trauma report experiencing at least transient mental contamination at some point following their assault (Fairbrother & Rachman, 2004), much of the research on mental contamination has been conducted among these samples.…”

“…For example, studies involving imagery of a past instance of sexual victimization as well as analogue studies involving imagery of a nonconsensual kiss at a party (i.e., dirty kiss paradigm ) suggest cognitive appraisals such as beliefs about the degree of violation associated with an event, perceived responsibility for the event, and perceptions of the perpetrator (e.g., morality/immorality of character, physical cleanliness) may be involved in the development of mental contamination concerns (Elliott & Radomsky, 2009; Ishikawa et al, in press; Radomsky & Elliott, 2009, 2012). Preliminary evidence further suggests that posttraumatic cognitions, including those related to self-blame, negative beliefs about the self, and negative beliefs about the world, mediate the association between mental contamination and posttraumatic stress symptoms following traumatic sexual victimization (Olatunji et al, 2008).…”

Developing a Japanese version of the mental pollution questionnaire and examining the cognitions that contribute to mental contamination

“…In this case, mental contamination can be viewed as a secondary traumarelated emotion based on maladaptive cognitive appraisals. The negative cognitions that predict mental contamination have a moral quality such as feelings of responsibility and immorality (Fairbrother & Rachman, 2004;Ishikawa et al, 2013;Rachman, 2006;. Events that are interpreted as wrong, inappropriate or immoral may evoke symptoms of mental contamination.…”

“…For example, when an individual experiences a feeling of responsibility or shame for participating in a situation deemed immoral, he or she will be more likely to experience internal, emotionally charged feelings of dirtiness (Rachman, 2006). A cognition of responsibility for the negative event (e.g., 'It was my responsibility that the incident happened') leads to guilt, which in turn exacerbates mental contamination (Ishikawa et al, 2013). A similar process can occur when an individual experiences unwanted, intrusive thoughts, images and/or impulses that are incompatible with her/his moral beliefs.…”