Comparison of emotion regulation strategies among individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder and substance abusers

One of the common problems in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder and substance abuse is emotion regulation difficult. The aim of this study was to compare emotion regulation strategies in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder, substance abuse and normal people. This study was conducted with historical cohort method. 40 patients with OCD, 40 substance abusers by purposive sampling, and 40 healthy people by available sampling, were selected as a control group. Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV axis I disorders (SCID-I), Yale Brown obsessive-compulsive scale (Y-BOCS), difficulties in emotion regulation scale (DERS), Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) were performed. There was a significant difference (P=0.001) among three groups in all items of emotional difficulties and emotion regulation strategies except suppression. According to the results of binary comparisons there was a significant difference (P=0.001) in all items except suppression between obsessive-compulsive group and normal people. In impulse control difficulties (P=0.004) and limited access to emotion regulation strategies (P=0.001) there was a significant difference between substance abusers and normal people. There was a significant difference in nonacceptance of emotional responses (P=0.001), difficulties engaging in goal- directed behavior when distressed (P=0.009), limited access to emotion regulation strategies (P=0.006) between obsessive-compulsive group and substance abusers. ‍ It seems that considering emotion-focused interventions for substance abuse group and all of the emotion regulation subfactors including cognitive methods for patient with obsessive-compulsive disorder be effective in their treatment interventions.