Disgust Emotion and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in an Iranian Clinical Sample

A growing body of research has revealed robust associations between disgust and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms. The present study aimed to understand if particular disgust domains are more closely associated with OC symptoms subscales, especially contamination and washing. A sample of 60 OCD patients from an outpatient Iranian psychiatric clinic completed self-report questionnaires including the Disgust Scale-Revised (DS-R), the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R) and the Padua inventory-Washington State University revision (PI- WSUR). The results indicated correlations between the total, core and contamination subscales of the DS-R together with the OCI-R total score as well as with the PI-WSUR total score. However, no correlation was found between these inventories and the DS-R animal reminder subscale. The DS-R total score also correlated with the washing and checking subscales of the OCI-R and with the contamination obsessions and washing and checking compulsions of the PI-WSUR. The relationship between disgust and demographic characteristics showed that the DS-R total, core and contamination scores were significantly higher for women and married subjects, and that the animal reminder subscale score was significantly higher for women than men. Although symptoms presentation, risk factors, and outcomes may vary cross-culturally, very little is known about disgust emotion as an OCD symptom in Iranian and eastern cultures. Additional work is needed to better understand these symptoms in other eastern cultures.