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What is Scrupulosity

Religious OCD (also known as Scrupulosity) might be triggered by doubts regarding religion/religious duties or misunderstanding of religion. With the passage of time, religions lost balance. The crucial balance between spirituality and rituals (physical actions) got lost. Some religions became totally abstract spiritual notions with no interference with any worldly activities. In other religions, rituals became were defined ‘too’ quantitatively. Furthermore, various factions emerged within all religions. These reasons could contribute to religious OCD along with several other reasons. It is a condition of ‘seeing sin when there is none’ (Ciarrocchi 1998:8). The ‘fear of sin’ is the very basis of religions, and Satan exploits that fear and turns it to an irrational paranoia. Psychiatrist David Greenberg (1984) pointed out essential principles of distinguishing normal religious beliefs and practices from pathological or overly scrupulous beliefs and practices:

– In scrupulosity, religious practices go far beyond the requirements of religious law and custom, and people may act more ‘catholic than the pope’. Muslims start acting more religiously than Prophet Muhammad, himself.

– In scrupulosity, beliefs or practices have an overly narrow, trivial focus. In prayer, excessive attention is devoted to ‘saying it right’ or ‘perfectly’. The person with scrupulosity spends excessive time and energy on minute, trivial aspects of religious observance, often ignoring more important aspects of spiritual life.

– Scrupulosity interferes with practicing the religion, such as when a person with blasphemous thoughts avoids going to church/mosque altogether.

– The excessive preoccupation with doing religious rituals until they are ‘just right’, praying repetitively, and confessing unnecessarily etc.

According to Hyman and Pedrick (2010) strong religious beliefs do not increase the likelihood of religious OCD (scrupulosity) because OCD is seen as a neurobehavioral disorder; a biological predisposition is a necessary factor in developing OCD. For those who do not have strong religious beliefs, OCD may take other forms. In many cases, OCD does not start as a religious OCD, but later on takes this form.

References:

Section titled “References:”

  • American Psychiatric Association (2000), Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, American Psychiatric Association, Washington DC.

  • Ciarrocchi, J. (1998), Religion, scrupulosity, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorders: Practical Management, 3rd edition.

  • Davis, L. (2008), Obsession – A History, The University of Chicago Press, London.

  • Greenberg, D. (1984), Are religious compulsions religious or compulsive? A phenomenological study, American Journal of Psychotherapy, 38 (4) pp. 524-532.

  • Hyman, B. and Pedrick, C. (2010), The OCD Workbook, Third Edition: Your Guide to breaking free from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, New Harbinger Publications, Oakland.

  • Jenike, M. (1998), Theories of etiology, Obsessive Compulsive Disorders: Practical Management, 3rd edition.

  • Lafluer, D.L. et al. (2005), N-acetylcysteina augmentation in serotonin reuptake inhibitor refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder, Psychopharmacology, 184(2):254-256.

  • Rasmussen, S. and Eisen, J. (1998) The epidemiology and clinical features of obsessive compulsive disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorders: Practical Management (eds M. Jenike, L. Baer & W. Miniciello), pp. 12 -43. St Louis, MO: Mosby.

  • National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (2006) Obsessive compulsive disorder: Core interventions in the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder and body dysmorphic disorder, British Psychological Society and The Royal College of Psychiatrist.< Available at: http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/cg031fullguideline.pdf > [Last Accessed: 13th June, 2012]