Relation of understanding intrusive thoughts and the ability of the theory of mind in adults with mild intellectual disability

Abstract

Intrusive thoughts are repetitive, unwanted and unacceptable thoughts, images or impulses that occur both in general and in clinical populations. As far as we know, there are no studies focusing on relation between the theory of mind and intrusive thoughts in persons with intellectual disabilities, but there are sporadic studies in other clinical samples in which a theory of mind deficit has been associated with the occurrence of intrusive thoughts. In relation to that, the goal of this research is to identify the correlation between the ability to understand the intrusive thoughts and strategies for overcoming intrusive thoughts in adults with mild intellectual disability and the theory of mind abilities, as well as to determine the frequency. The sample consisted of 25 participants with mild intellectual disability, aged 20 to 55 years (M = 31.24, SD = 8.84). For the assessment of the ability to understand the intrusive thoughts the task known as Mental uncontrollability (Flavell, Green, & Flavell, 1998) was used, while for the evaluation of the ability of theory of mind three assessments under the name Appearance-reality or Deceptive object (Hansen & Markman, 2005) were used. The obtained results show that 48% of the participants failed in the task of understanding the intrusive thoughts. The ability to understand the intrusive thoughts correlate significantly and positively with the ability of theory of mind in adults with mild intellectual disability (r = .584, p = .01). Over 60% of the participants report on their own experience the presence of intrusive thoughts. In situations of unwanted thoughts, these persons usually do not respond (32%) or try to suppress and stop the unpleasant thoughts (28%), 24% of them use a strategy of neutralizing, while 16% chose the strategy of focused distraction.

Intruzivne misli su ponavljajuće, nepoželjne i neprihvatljive misli, slike ili impulsi, koje se pojavljuju, kako u opštoj, tako i u kliničkim populacijama. U literaturi nema istraživanjima u kojima je ispitivan odnos teorije uma i intruzivnih misli u populaciji osoba sa intelektualnom ometenošću, ali postoje sporadične studije na drugim kliničkim uzorcima u kojima je deficitarna teorija uma dovođena u vezu sa pojavom nametljivih misli. U skladu sa tim, cilj ovog istraživanja predstavlja utvrđivanje odnosa između sposobnosti razumevanja intruzivnih misli kod odraslih osoba sa lakom intelektualnom ometenošću i njihove sposobnosti teorije uma, kao i utvrđivanje zastupljenosti intruzivnih misli i strategija za njihovo prevazilaženje kod ovih osoba. Uzorak čini 25 odraslih ispitanika sa lakom intelektualnom ometenošću, starosne dobi od 20 do 55 godina (AS = 31,24; SD = 8,84). Za procenu sposobnosti razumevanja intruzivnih misli korišćen je zadatak poznat pod imenom "Nemogućnost mentalne kontrole" (Flavell, Green, & Flavell, 1998), dok su za procenu sposobnosti teorije uma korišćena tri zadatka tipa "Izgled-realnost" i "Obmanjujući predmet" (Hansen & Markman, 2005).Dobijeni rezultati pokazuju da je 48% ispitanika neuspešno na zadatku razumevanja intruzivnih misli. Sposobnost razumevanja intruzivnih misli korelira statistički značajno i pozitivno sa sposobnošću teorije uma kod odraslih osoba sa lakom intelektualnom ometenošću (r = 0,584, p = 0,01). Preko 60% ispitanika izveštava o sopstvenom iskustvu prisustva intruzivnih misli. U situacijama pojave neželjenih misli, ove osobe najčešće ne reaguju (32%) ili pokušavaju da potisnu i prekinu neprijatnu misao (28%), 24% njih koristi strategiju neutralizovanja, dok njih 16% pribegava strategiji fokusirane distrakcije.