HOW TO REMAIN NEUTRAL - AN EXPERIMENTAL-ANALYSIS OF NEUTRALIZATION

Many patients with obsessive-compulsive problems engage in neutralizin g activity to reduce or ''cancel out'' the effects of the obsession. I n many cases, neutralization is covert and therefore difficult to asse ss or manipulate experimentally. We hypothesize that neutralization re sembles overt compulsions. In particular, it was predicted that: (i) n eutralization reduces the anxiety evoked by unacceptable thoughts, and (ii) if neutralization is delayed, anxiety and the urge to neutralize will decay naturally. To test the hypothesis, 63 Ss prone to a cognit ive bias known to be associated with obsessional complaints (thought-a ction fusion) were asked to write a sentence that would evoke anxiety. Measures of anxiety (and other variables of interest such as guilt, r esponsibility and the likelihood of harm) were taken. Subjects were th en instructed to either immediately neutralize (n = 29) or delay for 2 0 min (n = 34), after which time anxiety and urge to neutralize were r e-assessed. The Ss who had neutralized were then instructed to delay, and the Ss who had delayed were now instructed to neutralize, after wh ich time the final assessments were taken. The results confirmed the p redictions and supported the hypothesis that neutralization resembles overt compulsions. Of note, there were no differences between anxiety reduction after a 20-min delay, and after immediate neutralization. Th e problems involved in designing and conducting experiments on covert phenomena are discussed, and the clinical implications of the study ar e considered. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd