Thought-action fusion in individuals with OCD symptoms

Rachman (Rachman, S. (1993). Obsessions, responsibility, and guilt. Behavio ur Research and Therapy, 31, 149-154) suggested that patients with OCD may interpret thoughts as having special importance, thus experiencing thought- action fusion (TAF). Shafran, Thordarson and Rachman (Shafran, R., Thordars on, D. S. & Rachman, S, (1996). Thought-action fusion in obsessive compulsi ve disorder. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 710, 379-391) developed a questi onnaire (TAF) and found that obsessives scored higher than non-obsessives o n the measure. In the current study, we modified the TAF to include a scale that assessed the "likelihood of events happening to others" as well as ra tings of the responsibility and cost for having these thoughts. Replicating previous findings, we found that individuals with OC symptoms gave higher ratings to the likelihood of negative events happening as a result of their negative thoughts. Individuals with OC symptoms also rated the likelihood that they would prevent harm by their positive thoughts higher than did ind ividuals without OC symptoms. These results suggest that the role of though t-action fusion in OCs may extend to exaggerated beliefs about thoughts reg arding the reduction of harm. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights res erved.