An Examination of a Combined Disgust and Fear Reaction in Terms of Contamination Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Abstract
This survey, via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, will assess self-report disgust, anxiety, depressive and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in a community sample. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that Blake and colleagues from their 2017 study “Skin-transmitted pathogens and the heebie jeebies: Evidence for a subclass of disgust stimuli that evoke a qualitatively unique emotional response” proposed that the “heebie-jeebies” is a blend of fear and disgust that underlies avoidance of skin-contracted pathogens, which aligns with characteristics that of contamination Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). With this blend in mind, it is important to think about the implications this could have on the treatment for contamination OCD. Research shows that disgust plays a large role in terms of contamination OCD, but also that fear and disgust related behaviors often overlap (Woody & Teachman, 2000), which can make the distinction between the two difficult. This is why the “heebie-jeebies” blend was proposed, and will be examined in this study. The aim is that the “heebie-jeebies” will manifest as its’ own emotion, distinct from disgust and fear.
Subject Area
Psychology|Clinical psychology
Recommended Citation
Dreiss, Ashley Nicole, "An Examination of a Combined Disgust and Fear Reaction in Terms of Contamination Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" (2018). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI10932061.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI10932061
