What is it about?
Mental contamination is type of thinking that can lead to mental health problems. It involves feelings of dirtiness or pollution that arise in the absence of physical contact with anything particularly dirty. We have investigated what started these feelings in a group of people reporting contamination fears generally. We found that particular events seemed to be the start of feelings of mental contamination just as they were for physical contamination.
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Why is it important?
This is the first paper which identifies the possible precipitants of mental contamination thoughts. Developments in the treatment of contamination obsessions have suggested that knowledge of the precipitants of contamination cognitions is helpful in tailoring treatment more effectively.
Perspectives
This paper should stimulate debate on the origins of mental contamination and morphing fears (a rarer variant). It may also be helpful in indicating to therapists what sort of events they should be asking about to improve the outcomes of therapy.
Dr Timothy Ivor Williams
University of Reading
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Origins of Mental Contamination, Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, August 2017, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.jocrd.2017.08.007.
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