The effect of obsessive compulsive disorder and perceived parental attitudes in childhood on mentalization capacity

The concept of mentalization, refers to the ability of an individual to analyze in detail the behaviors of others and oneself in interaction, based on underlying semantic foundations such as desires, emotions, needs, and beliefs. In this research, parental attitudes that are perceived by OCD patients were examined in three sub-dimensions: emotional warmth, rejection, and overcontrol perceived by individuals from their parents during childhood. The aim of the research is to examine the effect of severity of obsessive and compulsive symptoms and perceived parental attitudes ont he capacity of mentalization. This study was conducted within the Therapy Medical Center in Antalya. Mentalization Scale (MentS), Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (YBOCS), and Abbreviated Measure of Perceived Parental Attitudes Scale (EMBU-S) were administered to 40 individuals diagnosed with OCD by psychiatrists working at the center. The statistical analysis of the collected data was performed using the SPSS 20 program. The research findings suggest that the perceived rejection from parents during childhood significantly affects the levels of obsession and compulsion symptoms and the individuals' capacity for self-based mentalization. Moreover, the research findings also indicate a significant positive relationship between the tendencies of overprotective and rejecting parental attitudes perceived during childhood and the severity of obsession and compulsion symptoms in adulthood. The results of the study demonstrate that there is a positive relationship between individuals' self-based mentalization skills and the level of emotional warmth perceived from their mothers, and a negative relationship with the level of rejection perceived. However, no significant relationship was found between other-oriented mentalization, motivation for mentalization, and the severity of OCD symptom severity and perceived parental attitude.