Interoception in OCD
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Awareness of internal sensations in OCD
IRAS ID
257623
Contact name
Savani Bartholdy
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal Holloway, University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 4 months, 0 days
Research summary
Doubt is a central feature of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). It is thought that individuals with OCD have less confidence in their “feeling of knowing” something than people who don’t have OCD, and therefore rely more on information from the environment. For example, they may have less confidence/more doubt that they have turned off the stove, and therefore be more likely to check it. This reliance on external information is thought to motivate urges (e.g., to check/clean). This study aims to investigate this idea by understanding if individuals with OCD (OCD group) show differences in their ability to perceive their own internal sensations than individuals who don’t have OCD (but have either high [anxiety control group) or typical [non-anxious control group] levels of anxiety). How accurately and confidently participants can perceive their internal sensations will be assessed using two tasks, asking people to assess their heartbeat and exhale at a certain intensity, with and without external information. Performance and confidence on these tasks will be compared to two similar tasks that don’t involve internal states. The findings will tell us more about what might be driving symptoms of OCD, the ways in which OCD might differ from other anxiety disorders, and could open up new avenues for treatments that target these processes.
REC name
London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/LO/0571
Date of REC Opinion
27 Apr 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion