JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Sensory over-responsivity (SOR) has emerged as a potential endophenotype in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), but few studies have examined SOR in relation to the major symptom dimensions of OCD and to symptoms across the full obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptom spectrum.

Objective:

To provide evidence of reliability and structure validity of Sensory Over-Responsivity Scales (SORS), as well as the association between SOR factors and OCD spectrum factors in Spanish participants.

Methods:

We translated the Sensory Over-Responsivity Scales (SORS) into Spanish, which is a measure that assesses SOR across the five sensory modalities. We validated SORS using an online survey that included a sample of 1,454 adolescents and adults (mean age = 23.84, SD = 8.46). Around eight months after the first assessment, 388 of the participants completed the online survey again. In addition to completing the SORS, participants completed a measure that assesses symptoms across the full OC spectrum, that is, contamination/cleaning, symmetry/ordering, taboo, disturbing thoughts/checking, body dysmorphic, hoarding, hair-pulling, and skin-picking symptoms.

Results:

The psychometric properties of the SORS were overall excellent and the test-retest reliability was adequate. All types of SOR were related to all major symptom dimensions of OCD and to all symptoms across the OC spectrum.

Conclusions:

SOR across the sensory modalities can be validly measured in a time-efficient way using a Spanish self-report measure. SOR emerged as a pure transdiagnostic phenomena in relation to symptoms across the OC spectrum, with no specific sensory modality being more strongly related to OC symptoms. SOR can shed much needed light on basic mechanisms important for the onset and maintenance of OC spectrum symptoms and disorders. Future research should elucidate whether SOR precedes or emerges alongside OC symptoms.