- Basic premise: The underlying premise assumes that patients with OCD experience distorted, dysfunctional thoughts about themselves, the world, and the future, which produce and maintain their anxiety. OCD has been hypothesized to relate to an inflated sense of personal responsibility related to events that may cause harm to either the self or others. Cognitive behavioral therapy aims to help the person identify, challenge, and modify these dysfunctional ideas and adopt more functional behaviors.
- Essence of therapy: CBT for OCD focuses on teaching techniques to help patients to explore, understand, and implement alternative ways of thinking and behaving. Exposure and response prevention (ERP) is a type of exposure therapy that is used to help patients explore alternative behaviors in response to unwanted thoughts.
- Length: Approx. 12 sessions
Other Treatment Resources
Meta-analyses and Systematic Reviews
- Cognitive and behavioral treatments for anxiety disorders: A review of meta-analytic findings (Deacon & Abramowitz, 2004)
- Behavioral versus pharmacological treatments of obsessive-compulsive disorder: A meta-analysis (Kobak et al., 1998)
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder: A meta-analysis of treatment outcome and moderators (Olatunji et al., 2013)
- Psychological treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder: A meta-analysis (Rosa-Alcazar et al., 2008)
- Family involvement in the psychological treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder: A meta-analysis (Thompson-Hollands et al., 2014)
- A metaanalysis of cognitive behavior therapy and medication for child obsessive-compulsive disorder: Moderators of treatment efficacy, response, and remission (McGuire et al., 2015)
Clinical Trials
- Randomized, placebo-controlled trial of exposure and ritual prevention, clomipramine, and their combination in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (Foa et al., 2005)
- Family-based treatment of early childhood obsessive-compulsive disorder: The Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Treatment Study for Young Children (POTS Jr): A randomized clinical trial (Freeman et al., 2014)
- Cognitive behavior therapy augmentation of pharmacotherapy in pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder: The Pediatric OCD Treatment Study II (POTS II) randomized controlled trial (Franklin et al., 2011)
- Cognitive-behavior therapy, sertraline, and their combination for children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder: The Pediatric OCD Treatment Study (POTS) randomized controlled trial (Pediatric OCD Treatment Study Team, 2004)
- Controlled comparison of family cognitive behavioral therapy and psychoeducation/relaxation training for child obsessive-compulsive disorder (Piacentini et al., 2011)
- A randomized, controlled trial of cognitive-behavioral therapy for augmenting pharmacotherapy in obsessive-compulsive disorder (Simpson et al., 2008)
Books Available for Purchase Through External Sites
- Overcoming Obsessive Thoughts: How to Gain Control of Your OCD (Clark & Purdon)
- Getting Over OCD: A 10-Step Workbook for Taking Back Your Life (Abramowitz)
- Freeing Your Child from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Powerful, Practical Program for Parents of Children and Adolescents (Chansky)
- Stop Obsessing!: How to Overcome your Obsessions and Compulsions (Foa & Wilson)
- The OCD Workbook: Your Guide to Breaking Free from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (Hyman & Pedrick)
- The Thought that Counts: A Firsthand Account of One Teenager’s Experience with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (Kant, Franklin, & Andrews)
- Talking Back to OCD: The Program That Helps Kids and Teens Say “No Way” — and Parents Say “Way to Go” (March & Benton)
Measures, Handouts and Worksheets
Interviews
- Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule (ADIS) for Adults
- Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule (ADIS) for Child
Clinician Rated
- Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS)
- Children’s Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS)
Self-Report Questionnaires
- Florida Obsessive Compulsive Inventory (FOCI)
- Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (DOCS)
- Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R)
- Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale-Self Report
- Clark-Beck Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (CBOCI)
- Short Leyton Obsessional Inventory – Child Version
- Maudsley Obsessional Compulsive Inventory
- Padua Inventory Revised
Parent Measures
- Child Obsessive Compulsive Impact Scale
- Children’s Obsessional Compulsive Inventory
- Family Accommodation Scale
- Family Accommodation Checklist and Interference Scale (FACLIS)
Training Materials and Workshops
- The Oxford Handbook of Obsessive Compulsive and Spectrum Disorders (Steketee)
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (Franklin & Foa; In: Clinical Handbook of Psychological Disorders)
- Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Related Diagnosis
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
EST Status
N/A
2015 EST Status
Treatment pending re-evaluation
1998 EST Status
Strong