(PS7-6) Beyond Just Right: Sensory Phenomena in Predicting OCD Symptom Severity

“Not just right” experiences (NJREs) in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and related disorders may be associated with sensory processing difficulties. Individuals with OCD often exhibit challenges in sensory integration, the process by which the brain synthesizes information from multiple sensory systems to construct a coherent experience. NJREs can arise in response to a variety of stimuli across different sensory modalities, such as tactile, auditory, or visual input. A key concept related to NJREs is sensory phenomena (SP), a broad construct encompassing sensory-driven experiences like physical sensations, urges, energy build-ups, and the need to achieve a sense of completeness. Specifically, it is thought that individuals with NJREs and SP may have difficulty integrating bodily sensory signals, such as proprioception (awareness of body position and movement) and interoception (perception of internal bodily states). These integration difficulties may contribute to the internal distress and discomfort that define NJREs in OCD. This study aims to understand whether different indicators of the severity of sensory phenomena (i.e., frequency, distress, and interference) meaningfully contribute to the severity of obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms when controlling for other relevant variables. Participants ranged in age (18 to 59 years old; M = 23.28 years) and were primarily white (68.5%) females (78.3%) (N = 327). Participants completed a battery of self-report questionnaires to assess the severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCI-R), sensory phenomena (USP-SPS), difficulties with emotion regulation (DERS-SF), distress tolerance (DTS), symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress (DASS-21), and severity of NJREs (NJRE-QR). Our analyses indicate that a higher frequency of sensory phenomena was a significant predictor of greater overall OC severity (β = .32, t = 6.45, p < .001, R2 = .12), and greater severity of OC symptoms (ordering, β = .14, t = 2.14, p < .05, R2 = .05; checking, β = .20, t = 3.06, p < .01, R2 = .04; neutralizing, β = .42, t = 6.37, p < .001, R2 = .14; washing, β = .30, t = 4.78, p < .001, R2 = .11; obsessing, β = .21, t = 3.98, p < .001, R2 = .05) when controlling for general anxiety, stress, depression, distress tolerance, difficulties with emotion regulation, and general severity of NJREs. Greater distress from sensory phenomena was only predictive of higher severity of hoarding symptoms (β = .19,t = 2.36, p < .05, R2 = .02). Interference from sensory phenomena was not predictive of overall OC severity or symptom severity. These findings suggest that the frequency of sensory phenomena is a significant predictor of overall OCD severity and several symptom dimensions, emphasizing its potential role in OCD-related experiences. In contrast, distress from sensory phenomena was only linked to hoarding symptoms, and interference was not a significant predictor, suggesting that how often sensory experiences occur may be more relevant than their perceived impact. These results highlight the importance of considering sensory processing mechanisms in OCD, which may inform future research and treatment approaches. Further considerations, results, and clinical implications will be discussed.