We’re All in This Together: Are Traits of OCD & Social Anxiety in All of Us?
Psychology Professor Laura Summerfeldt takes a deeper dive into a timely topic
Are mental disorders — such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and social anxiety —best seen as a range of traits and behaviours present in all of us, to varying degrees? This the question a Trent Psychology prof is looking to answer in her latest research.
“This dimensional perspective contrasts with the categorical you-have-it-or-you-don’t ‘disease model’ stance that has dominated mainstream thinking about mental disorders,” explains Trent’s Dr. Laura Summerfeldt, who is also a licensed clinical psychologist.
Professor Summerfeldt explains that traits such as anxiety, perfectionism, introversion and emotionality are in all of us, and help with life’s demands, contributing to creativity and stress management. However, these traits can also become problematic in some combinations and when they reach extreme levels.
Professor Summerfeldt’s research looks at these traits and associated features, and at “protective” factors that may prevent them from escalating into disorder, such as having strong emotion-regulation abilities or social supports.
A Closer Look at OCD
Of particular interest to Prof. Summerfeldt’s research are people who possess traits of OCD but who do not develop the full-blown disorder. Her foremost interest is in a form known as “incompleteness” – meaning people are driven to often disabling compulsions out of the sense that things are ‘just not right.’
In a study published in 2015, she found that the same trait in people who did not have OCD led to enhanced aesthetic sense, such as for graphic design.
Under her supervision, almost 40 undergraduates and Masters students at Trent have completed theses on topics related to these research interests.
Screen Time & Building Resiliency
This is a timely topic. Anxiety disorders are on the rise in youth and children, and it may be partly because of too much screen time. Prof. Summerfeldt recently found a book from the early 1900s advising parents to expose shy children supportively to as many social experiences as possible so anxiety lessens and the child will gain confidence.
“This is a perspective that we have in some ways lost, as the availability and pull of screens means that children often have less varied real-life experience, social and otherwise,” she says.
Since 2012, Health Canada has reported a significant decline in active play in children, and its replacement with screen time.
“This ‘extinction of experience’ is worrying, and profoundly at odds with how humans build resiliency,” she explains.
Learn more about the Psychology department and groundbreaking research at Trent.