Disgust in Anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders: Recent Findings and Future Directions

Abstract

<div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="S1"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d8671400e115">Purpose of review:</h5> <p id="P1">In the past twenty years, the role of disgust in anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been investigated with increasing precision. In this review, we examine recent evidence implicating disgust in anxiety and OCD, highlighting recent measurement and methodological improvements. Specific emphasis is placed on understanding the mechanisms that may account for the role of disgust in OCD and related disorders. </p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="S2"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d8671400e120">Recent findings:</h5> <p id="P2">Recent developments include clarification of the role of distinct disgust-relevant vulnerabilities in the etiology of anxiety and OCD, an improved understanding of the neurobiology of disgust processing in OCD, and an increased focus on disgust-related mechanisms than contribute to psychopathology, such as disgust-based learning and emotion regulation. </p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="S3"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d8671400e125">Summary:</h5> <p id="P3">Disgust proneness is increasingly linked with symptoms of anxiety and OCD. However, further examination of the mechanisms that account for the roles of distinct disgust-relevant vulnerabilities is needed, and studies that directly examine disgust during the course of treatment are limited. Increasingly, the field has moved toward experimental investigation of specific disgust-relevant mechanisms that influence the etiology and treatment of OCD and related anxiety disorders. </p> </div>