Clarifying the Placement of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in the Empirical Structure of Psychopathology

Recent work on the empirical structure of psychopathology has aimed to address some limitations that can arise from traditional categorical classification approaches. This research focused modeling patterns co-occurrence among diagnoses, uncovering a variety well-validated dimensions (or spectra) psychopathology, spanning common and uncommon mental disorders. A model integrating these empirically derived spectra (the Hierarchical Taxonomy Psychopathology; HiTOP) been proposed. However, placement obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) within this remains unclear, as studies have variably found OCD fit best part Fear, Distress or Thought Disorder spectra. One reason for may be heterogeneity symptoms experienced by individuals with OCD, which is lost when analysing diagnoses. For example, different symptom clusters OCD—such washing contamination versus obsessions checking—may differentially associated in HiTOP model. The aim study was test hypothesis. Data were collected an anonymous online survey community participants (n = 609), largely elevated illness, analyzed factor analytic framework treating unitary construct four separate clusters. results indicated its constituent had significant loadings varying strength Fear These findings suggest characterized cross-loading both spectra, highlight importance accounting diagnostic future research.