The Role of Religious Commitment, Non-adaptive Religious Beliefs, Guilt Feeling and Non-adaptive Cognitive Beliefs in the Severity of Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms

This study aimed to investigate the degree to which the severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms are influenced by non-adaptive cognitive beliefs, commitment to reli-gious codes of hygiene and cleansing, and the guilt feeling in the Iranian patients with obsessive- compulsive disorder (OCD).Within the framework of a post hoc survey study, 43 OCD patients were selected by convenience sampling and were evaluated using obsessive-compulsive diagnostic checklist, Compulsive Activity Checklist (CAC), Beliefs Inventory (BI), a questionnaire on religious be- liefs regarding cleansing and hygiene codes, a questionnaire on religious commitment and the guilt feeling questionnaire. The results were analyzed using Pearson correlation, multiple reg-ression with simultaneous method and analysis of variance.The findings revealed a negative correlation between the variables of religious com-mitment, non-adaptive cognitive beliefs and guilt feeling with the severity of obsessive-com-pulsive symptoms. Non-adaptive religious beliefs regarding hygiene and cleansing codes were better predictors of the severity of OCD symptoms than non-adaptive cognitive beliefs. Although non-adaptive religious beliefs can result in extreme religious rituals, it is not an indicator of stronger religious commitment. An individual’s religious commitment can be within the normal range while he/she is affected by compulsive washing.