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

background and aim: 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. materials and methods: 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. results: 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. ‍conclusion: 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.