Comparison of Thought-Action Fusion, Attributional styles, and Attentional Control in Patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Depression

The objective of the present study was to compare thought-action fusion, attributional styles, and attentional control in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression. It was an ex post facto study. Statistical population of this study were all peoples with OCD and depression who referred to psychiatric clinics and hospitals in Shiraz. They were diagnosed with OCD or MDD by psychiatrists. The study sample consisted of two groups: OCD (n = 30) and MDD (n = 30) who were selected by purposive sampling method. Data were collected using the Thought-Action Fusion Sacle (TAFS), Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ), and Attentional Control Scale (ACS). They were analyzed using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). The findings revealed that TAF-moral and TAF (likelihood-others and likelihood-self) had higher levels in MDD and OCD respectively. The attributional styles for positive events were internal, stable, and global in OCD group, but they were external, unstable, and specific in MDD group; also, the attributional styles for negative events were internal, stable, and global in both groups (MDD group had higher level). Moreover, there was no significant difference between OCD and MDD groups in attentional control, on the other hand both groups had low attentional control according to means.