THOUGHT SUPPRESSION AND OBSESSION-COMPULSION

It was argued that obsession-compulsion might affect the consequences of thought suppression. A group of 35 female students who were first s ubmitted to thought suppression and then to an expression instruction were compared with a group of 38 female students submitted twice to an expression instruction. The emotional character of a target story rea d by subjects was systematically varied between subjects, and obsessio n-compulsion was included as a third between-subjects factor. No evide nce of rebound or of initial enhancement was found when reported story -related thoughts were compared across instructional conditions. There was an interaction between obsession-compulsion and initial instructi on on attempts to avoid target thoughts during the first period. Contr ary to expectations obsession-compulsion was related to fewer attempts at suppression in the suppression and more in the expression conditio ns. Similarly, there was a trend for obsession-compulsion to be relate d to more frequent target thoughts in the expression and less in the s uppression conditions. These findings are discussed in relation to the role of perceived responsibility in obsession-compulsion for thought as a determinant of thought processes of obsessive-compulsive people.