Obsessive-compulsive traits may affect post-pandemic adjustment

Several traits related to obsessive-compulsive personality disorder predicted post-pandemic adjustment difficulties, according to study results published in Journal of Psychiatric Research.

Perfectionism and preoccupation with details had the most significant correlations.

“People with obsessive compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) are defined by rigid and stubborn behaviors and show cognitive inflexibility on objective neurocognitive testing,” Naomi A. Fineberg, of the School of Life and Medical Sciences at the University of Hertfordshire in the U.K., and colleagues wrote. “Indeed, the disorder is characterized by a pervasive preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism and control of a degree that impairs psychosocial functioning. As the official rules are relaxed, and members of the public start to behave in more idiosyncratic ways, we might expect people with OCPD, who are likely to have followed the rules conscientiously during the lockdown, would experience stress-related symptoms.”

Fineberg and colleagues conducted a survey of 438 adults from the general population during a temporary easing of lockdown in the U.K. between July 2020 and November 2020, which showed 25% of participants experienced readjustment difficulties. Those with a history of mental disorder and obsessive-compulsive traits and symptoms, including rigidity determined via a neurocognitive test of attentional flexibility, had significant difficulties.

In the current study, researchers performed a secondary analysis of the data, examining which obsessive-compulsive traits correlated with certain aspects of behavioral adjustment. They performed correlational and multiple regression analyses to assess relationships between the eight individual personality traits that make up DSM-5 OCPD, measured via the self-rated Compulsive Personality Assessment Scale (CPAS) and various self-rated Post-Pandemic Adjustment Questionnaire items.

Results showed an association between three items on the Post-Pandemic Adjustment Questionnaire and individual CPAS items: “general difficulties adjusting” was associated with perfectionism, preoccupation with details, over-conscientiousness and need for control; “social avoidance” was associated with perfectionism and preoccupation with details; and “disinfecting behaviors” was associated with preoccupation with details and miserliness. However, none of the adjustment items had significant associations with self-rated rigidity.

“Of the wide range of OCPD traits predicting problems adjusting post-pandemic, perfectionism and preoccupation with details showed the most robust correlations,” Fineberg and colleagues wrote. “These traits constitute a platform for the development of new screening and interventional strategies aimed at restoring public mental health and wellbeing. Cognitive rigidity may be more reliably evaluated using an objective form of assessment.”