0000000000181986
AUTHOR
Héctor Fernández-álvarez
showing 8 related works from this author
The cross-cultural and transdiagnostic nature of unwanted mental intrusions
2019
Unwanted mental intrusions (UMIs), typically discussed in relation to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), are highly prevalent, regardless of the specific nationality, religion, and/or cultural context. Studies have also shown that UMIs related to Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), Illness anxiety/Hypochondriasis (IA-H), and Eating Disorders (EDs) are commonly experienced. However, the influence of culture on these UMIs and their transdiagnostic nature has not been investigated.Participants were 1,473 non-clinical individuals from seven countries in Europe, the Middle-East, and South America. All the subjects completed the Questionnaire of Unpleasant Intrusive Thoughts, which assesses the occ…
Part 2. They scare because we care: The relationship between obsessive intrusive thoughts and appraisals and control strategies across 15 cities
2014
Abstract Cognitive models of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) purport that obsessions are normal intrusive thoughts that are misappraised as significant, leading to negative emotional responses and maladaptive attempts to control the thoughts and related emotions. This paper utilised a large multi-national dataset of interview data regarding intrusive thoughts, to investigate three questions related to the cognitive model of OCD and to its stability across cultures. First, the paper aimed to investigate the implicit yet-hitherto-untested assumption of cognitive models that misappraisals and control strategies for intrusive thoughts relate similarly across cultures. Second, this study aim…
Part 1—You can run but you can't hide: Intrusive thoughts on six continents
2014
Abstract Most cognitive approaches for understanding and treating obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) rest on the assumption that nearly everyone experiences unwanted intrusive thoughts, images and impulses from time to time. These theories argue that the intrusions themselves are not problematic, unless they are misinterpreted and/or attempts are made to control them in maladaptive and/or unrealistic ways. Early research has shown unwanted intrusions to be present in the overwhelming majority of participants assessed, although this work was limited in that it took place largely in the US, the UK and other ‘westernised’ or ‘developed’ locations. We employed the International Intrusive Thoug…
Consequências mal adaptativas de invasões mentais com conteúdos relacionados a transtornos obsessivos, dismórficos, hipocondríacos e alimentares: dif…
2021
Unwanted mental intrusions (UMIs) with contents related to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), Illness Anxiety Disorder (IAD), and Eating Disorders (EDs) are highly prevalent, independently of the cultural and/or social context. Cognitive-behavioral explanations for these disorders postulates that the escalation from common UMIs to clinically relevant symptoms depends on the maladaptive consequences (i.e., emotions, appraisals, and control strategies) of experiencing UMIs. This study examines, from a cross-cultural perspective, the cognitive-behavioral postulates of the maladaptive consequences of having UMIs.Non-clinical 1,473 participants from Europe, the …
The Spanish version of the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R): Reliability, validity, diagnostic accuracy, and sensitivity to treatment e…
2013
Abstract This study examines the psychometric properties of the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R) in Spanish and Argentinean samples. 90 OCD patients, 31 with non-OCD anxiety disorders and 84 non-clinical individuals completed the Spanish version of the OCI-R along with other OCD, depression, anxiety, and OCD-related cognition measures. The OCI-R showed significant associations with both OCD severity and other OCD symptom measures, beyond the relationships with depression, anxiety, and worry. The questionnaire also differentiated OCD from other anxiety disorders, except on the ordering and hoarding subscales. The relationships between the OCI-R subscales and dysfunctional belie…
Part 3. A question of perspective: The association between intrusive thoughts and obsessionality in 11 countries
2014
Abstract A key assumption of contemporary cognitive-behavioral models of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is that obsessional thoughts exist on a continuum with “normal” unwanted intrusive thoughts. Recently, however, some authors have challenged this notion. The present study aimed to clarify (a) the extent that different types of intrusive thoughts in nonclinical individuals are associated with obsessionality, (b) the relative contribution of frequency, distress and control ratings to obsessionality, and (c) the extent that existing findings (primarily from North American or European samples) generalize to other countries in the world. Five hundred and fifty-four non clinical individua…
Group Versus Individual Cognitive Treatment for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Changes in Severity at Post-Treatment and One-Year Follow-up
2009
Background: Very few studies have compared the efficacy of individual and group cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) for the treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) by taking into consideration the change in OCD severity in both the short and long term. Aims: To conduct an open trial of individual versus group CBT for OCD, comparing the clinical and statistically significant changes in severity both at post-treatment and one year later. Method: Forty-two OCD subjects were assigned to individual (n = 18) or group CBT (n = 24, in four groups). Sixteen and 22 subjects completed the treatment in the individual and group conditions, respectively. The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale w…
Group versus individual cognitive treatment for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Changes in non-OCD symptoms and cognitions at post-treatment and one-y…
2011
Current cognitive approaches postulate that obsessions and compulsions are caused and/or maintained by misinterpretations about their meaning. This assumption has led to the development of cognitive therapeutic (CT) procedures designed to challenge the dysfunctional appraisals and beliefs patients have about their obsessions. Nonetheless, few studies have compared the efficacy of individual and group CT in changing the dysfunctional cognitions that hypothetically underlie Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). In this study, 44 OCD patients were assigned to individual (n = 18) or group (n = 24) CT. Sixteen completed the individual CT, and 22 completed the group CT. The effects of the two CT c…