%0 Journal Article
%T Experimental manipulation of beliefs about the importance of thoughts and the effect on an aggressive impulse
%J Behavioural and cognitive psychotherapy
%D 2020
%A Jiménez-Ros, A.
%A Faísca, L.
%A Martins, T.
%A Janeiro, L.
%A Martins, A. T.
%V ePub
%N ePub
%P ePub-ePub
%X BACKGROUND: Cognitive models of obsessive-compulsive disorder attribute a causal role to maladaptive beliefs. AIMS: To test this hypothesis, we manipulated Overimportance of Thoughts (OT) beliefs and experimentally evaluated their effect on the response to an induced aggressive impulse. <br><br>METHOD: Eighty-five participants completed a battery of self-report instruments assessing obsession symptoms, thought control, affectivity and obsessive beliefs, and were then randomly assigned to two conditions. In the experimental condition participants read a scientific abstract on the importance of thought control whilst those in the control condition read a neutral abstract. All participants identified a loved person and imagined feeling the impulse to stab this person, then completed again OT beliefs measures (Overimportance of Thought, Moral-Thought Action Fusion and Thought Action Fusion Likelihood). <br><br>RESULTS: The Moral component of the Thought Action Fusion was reduced by reading a brief text about the possibility and desirability of thought control. However, experimentally induced changes in beliefs did not yield differences in the intrusiveness of the aggressive impulse. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Some beliefs can be modified through a single session in which information similar to what could be obtained in quotidian life is provided.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
%G en
%I Cambridge University Press
%@ 1352-4658
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1352465820000120