Given that participants respond to the III based on their own thoughts that they have identified as personally negative, the III does not assess an individual’s initial interpretation of ambiguous information as either threat-relevant or benign. The participant rates the frequency of specific intrusions and the degree to which the individual believes in the intrusive thought. The III requires an individual to first identify two unwanted thoughts that the individual considers intrusive or inappropriate and then to answer a series of questions focused on appraisals of those and similar intrusions (e.g., “Because I have this thought, it must be important”). Using a revised III with 19 items, Ferguson, Jarry, and Jackson (2006) found that scores on the III were predictive of OCD symptom severity and OCD subtypes in an undergraduate sample. This scale has good psychometric properties in participants with OCD ( OCCWG, 2001). Three subscales capture self-reported interpretations of general intrusions, including: 1) responsibility, 2) importance of thoughts, and 3) control of thoughts. The III is a 31-item questionnaire that examines interpretations of intrusive thoughts, impulses, or images. In response to current models of OCD, the OCCWG developed the Interpretation of Intrusions Inventory (III OCCWG, 2001). Based on these theories, the Obsessive Compulsive Cognitions Working Group ( OCCWG, 1997) concluded that the primary cause of obsessions in OCD is flawed interpretations of the intrusive thoughts ( OCCWG, 2003). Thus, eliminating these misinterpretations should help decrease obsessions in OCD. Another model of OCD proposed by Rachman (1997) suggests that obsessions are caused by misinterpreting the importance of one’s thoughts. Furthermore, the focus of cognitive therapy for OCD is on changing interpretations of thoughts, rather than stopping the thoughts themselves. For example, according to Salkovskis (1985), intrusive thoughts with themes of responsibility, blame, or control become obsessions when they are interpreted as being important. Cognitive models of OCD suggest that dysfunctional interpretations of thoughts (e.g., Clark & Purdon, 1993 Rachman, 1997, 1998 Salkovskis, 1985, 1989) contribute to the origin and maintenance of this disorder. These symptoms cause significant distress, marked interference, and are time consuming ( American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Individuals with OCD perform rituals to prevent or alleviate this anxiety. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by intrusive thoughts and images that increase anxiety. Our results provide preliminary evidence for the reliability and validity of the WSAO as well as its usefulness in predicting response to behavioral challenge above and beyond OC symptoms, depression, and anxiety. In a second experiment, we tested the predictive validity of the WSAO using a performance-based behavioral approach test of contamination fears, and found that the WSAO was a better predictor of avoidance than an established measure of OC washing symptoms (Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Revised, washing subscale). Results revealed that the Word Sentence Association Test for OCD (WSAO) can differentiate those with OC symptoms from both a matched anxious/dysphoric group and a non-anxious/non-dysphoric group. In Experiment 1, 38 individuals high in OC symptoms, 34 individuals high in anxiety and dysphoric symptoms, and 31 asymptomatic individuals completed the measure. In two experiments we examined the psychometric properties of a new measure of interpretation bias in individuals with obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCs).
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