Obsessive-compulsive symptoms and dimensional models of psychopathology: The contribution of “not just right experiences”

Dimensional models provide a framework for characterizing psychopathology and personality disorders based on lower-order maladaptive traits, typically organized into five overarching domains: Negative Affect or Internalizing, Detachment, Antagonism, Disinhibition, and Psychoticism or Thought Disorder. Within the context of these dimensional models, the classification of Obsessive-Compulsive (OC) symptoms has raised questions, as they are often placed within the Negative Affect/Internalizing or Psychoticism/Thought Disorder domains. The discrepancy in their categorization may be attributed to the diversity in how these symptoms manifest. An alternative perspective involves the adoption of a measure associated with a vulnerability factor for OCD, which may transcend the specific symptoms of the disorder. In this study, our objective was to explore the association between 'Not Just Right Experiences' (NJREs) and the dimensions specified in the DSM-5 Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (AMPD). We utilized two distinct samples, one consisting of 978 participants and the other comprising 1004, all of whom were non-clinical individuals. Through a series of exploratory factor analyses conducted on the initial sample, we uncovered a hierarchical structure of general psychopathology. Within this structure, NJREs were situated within the AMPD's Psychoticism domain. Furthermore, the Psychoticism domain exhibited a strong and unique association with all OC symptoms, surpassing the influence of other AMPD components. A structural equation model applied to the second sample validated these findings, indicating that both the Psychoticism and Negative Affect played significant roles in explaining a substantial portion of the variance observed in NJRE measures. These outcomes have pertinent clinical implications, particularly in the context of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for individuals with OCD.