Disorder Relevant or Disorder Specific: Fear of Losing Control in OCD and Panic Disorder

Background: Fear of losing control may play an important role in multiple anxiety disorders. However, the disorder relevance/ specificity of the construct has not been examined. The authors previously developed the novel Fear of Losing Control Inventory (FOLCI), with which the present study aimed to investigate the disorder relevance/ specificity of fear of losing control in OCD and panic disorder. Methods: The FOLCI, the Beliefs About Losing Control Inventory-II (BALCI-II) and a battery of psychological measures were administered to three groups: OCD (N = 36), panic disorder (N = 31) and healthy controls (N = 33). Mixed model ANOVAs tested for differences between groups in terms of FOLCI and BALCI-II subscales. Results: As hypothesised, the OCD and panic groups reported greater fear of losing control than healthy controls across all FOLCI and BALCI-II subscales. Contrary to hypotheses, there were no significant differences between the OCD and panic groups in terms of the FOLCI’s Agent of Harm, Delayed Catastrophe and Imminent Catastrophe subscales. As hypothesised, the panic group scored significantly higher than the OCD group on the Bodily Sensations subscale. Non-hypothesised differences were also observed, with the panic group scoring significantly higher than the OCD group on the Escape and Avoidance subscale, and the Thoughts and Feelings subscale. Discussion: Findings suggest fear of losing control is relevant to both OCD and panic disorder. The findings suggest some aspects—specifically fear of losing control of bodily sensations, emotions (and thoughts) and escape and avoidance behaviours driven by feared loss of control, may be specific to panic disorder. The present findings extend previous research by demonstrating the relevance of feared loss of control—and of the FOLCI and BALCI-II as measures—within clinical groups.