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Abnormal and normal mental contamination

Radomsky, AS; Coughtrey, A; Shafran, R; Rachman, S; (2018) Abnormal and normal mental contamination. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders , 17 pp. 46-51. 10.1016/j.jocrd.2017.08.011. Green open access

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Abstract

Mental contamination is defined and the main features of the phenomenon are set out. In addition to the familiar form of abnormal mental contamination, as evident in psychological disorders, notably Obsessive-compulsive Disorder, the phenomenon of non-clinical mental contamination is common. The clinical form is distressing, uncontrollable, constant and dysfunctional. The normal phenomenon can be disturbing but it is usually dormant, evoked intermittently, transient, tolerable, manageable, not dysfunctional and psychologically fascinating. The cognitive theory of mental contamination encompasses the causes of mental contamination, its persistence, and individual vulnerability. The field would benefit greatly from additional work, such as that reported elsewhere in this Special Issue, to incorporate the unusual manifestations of visual contamination, morphing and self-contamination, and to account for the experience of mental contamination in nonclinical and other clinical manifestations.

Type: Article
Title: Abnormal and normal mental contamination
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.jocrd.2017.08.011
Publisher version: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jocrd.2017.08.011
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Mental contamination, OCD, Symptoms, Analogue research, Contamination fear, Compulsive washing
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1576403
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