"Not Just Right Experiences" are specific to obsessive-compulsive disorder: further evidence from Italian clinical samples

Claudio Sica; Gioia Bottesi; Antonella Orsucci; Caterina Pieraccioli; Cecilia Sighinolfi; Marta Ghisi

doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2015.02.002

"Not Just Right Experiences" are specific to obsessive-compulsive disorder: further evidence from Italian clinical samples

J Anxiety Disord. 2015 Apr:31:73-83. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2015.02.002. Epub 2015 Feb 19.

Authors

Claudio Sica¹, Gioia Bottesi², Antonella Orsucci³, Caterina Pieraccioli⁴, Cecilia Sighinolfi⁵, Marta Ghisi²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Health Sciences, University of Firenze, Italy. Electronic address: claudio.sica@unifi.it.
² Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Italy.
³ Department of Health Sciences, University of Firenze, Italy.
⁴ Casa di cura Neuropsichiatrica "Villa dei Pini", Firenze, Italy.
⁵ Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.

PMID: 25743760
DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2015.02.002

Abstract

Not Just Right Experiences (NJREs) are considered to be a perceptually tinged phenomenon mainly related to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The evidence of an association between NJREs and OCD or OC symptoms have been accumulating in the last few years, whereas there is a paucity of studies about the role of this construct in other clinical conditions considered part of the "OCD spectrum". In the current study, the NJRE-Q-R Severity scale (a well-validated measure of NJREs) was administered to 41 patients with OCD, 53 with hair-pulling disorder (HPD), 38 with gambling disorder (GD) and 43 with eating disorders (ED) along with measures of OC symptoms and general distress. In each group, NJREs were consistently associated with OC symptoms; moreover, the pattern of associations appeared coherent with the main clinical features of each disorder. The OCD group reported higher levels of NJREs severity than GD and ED, whereas there were no differences between the OCD and HPD groups. However, HPD patients did not have higher scores of NJREs severity than GD and ED counterparts. NJREs appear to be specific to OCD, but further study is needed to establish the role of this construct in OCD-related disorders.

Keywords: Eating disorders; Gambling disorder; Hair-pulling disorder; Not Just Right Experiences; Obsessive–compulsive disorder.

MeSH terms

Adult
Case-Control Studies
Compulsive Personality Disorder / diagnosis
Compulsive Personality Disorder / psychology
Feeding and Eating Disorders / diagnosis
Feeding and Eating Disorders / psychology
Female
Gambling / diagnosis
Gambling / psychology
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / diagnosis*
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / psychology
Personality Inventory
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Surveys and Questionnaires
Trichotillomania / diagnosis
Trichotillomania / psychology