Effects of Insight With Obsessive Beliefs and Metacognition Appraisal On Symptoms’ Severity Among Patients With Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Abstract Background: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is among the top ten devastating mental disorders. Psychiatric nurses have significant roles in its diagnosis and management. Aim of the study: to investigate the effects of insight with obsessive beliefs and metacognition appraisal on the severity of symptoms among patients with OCD. Subjects and methods: This case-control study was conducted in the outpatient clinics at El Maamoura Mental Health Hospital. It included 69 OCD patients recruited from the setting, and 69 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. A self-administered questionnaire Yale Brown OCD Scale, Overvalued Ideas Scale (OVIS), and Metacognitions Questionnaire (MCQ-30) was used in data collection. The fieldwork was from October 2020 to March 2021. Results: Most patients were diagnosed with OCD at <30 years age (78.3%), and 39.1% tried self-management. OCD patients’ scores of Yale Brown, OVIS, and MCQ-30 were significantly higher than controls (p<0.001). A significant positive correlation was found between Yale Brown severity and OVIS insight scores (r=0.459). The multivariate analysis revealed that OVIS score is the strongest independent positive predictor of the Yale Brown severity score, while good family relations is a negative predictor. As for the MCQ-30, the control thoughts score was a positive predictor, and the self-consciousness score a negative predictor. Conclusion and recommendations: OCD patients have poorer insight and more maladaptive metacognitive beliefs in comparison with healthy controls. Although poor insight has a significant negative impact on OCD severity, the effects of metacognition still need further research. The study recommends training programs to improve the insight of OCD patients. Further research addressing the role of metacognition in OCD is warranted.