DIAGNOSIS: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
2015 EST Status: Treatment pending re-evaluation
Very strong: High-quality evidence that treatment improves symptoms and functional outcomes at post-treatment and follow-up; little risk of harm; requires reasonable amount of resources; effective in non-research settings
Strong: Moderate- to high-quality evidence that treatment improves symptoms OR functional outcomes; not a high risk of harm; reasonable use of resources
Weak: Low or very low-quality evidence that treatment produces clinically meaningful effects on symptoms or functional outcomes; Gains from the treatment may not warrant resources involved
Insufficient Evidence: No meta-analytic study could be identified
Insufficient Evidence: Existing meta-analyses are not of sufficient quality
Treatment pending re-evaluation
1998 EST Status: Strong Research Support
Strong: Support from two well-designed studies conducted by independent investigators.
Modest: Support from one well-designed study or several adequately designed studies.
Controversial: Conflicting results, or claims regarding mechanisms are unsupported.
Strength of Research Support
Empirical Review Status
2015 Criteria
(Tolin et al. Recommendation)
(Tolin et al. Recommendation)
Very Strong
Strong
Weak
Insufficient Evidence
Treatment pending re-evaluation
Find a Therapist specializing in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Obsessive Compulsive DisorderList your practice
Brief Summary
- 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
Treatment Resources
Editors:John Otis, PhD
Note: The resources provided below are intended to supplement not replace foundational training in mental health treatment and evidence-based practice
Treatment Manuals
Training Resources
Measures, Handouts and Worksheets
Self-help Books
Smartphone Apps
Video Demonstrations
Video Descriptions
Clinical Trials
Meta-Analyses and Systematic Reviews
Other Treatment Resources
Treatment Manuals / Outlines
Treatment Manuals
Books Available for Purchase Through External Sites
- Family-Based Treatment for Young Children with OCD (Freeman & Garcia)
- Cognitive Behavioral Treatment of Childhood OCD (Piacentini, Langley, & Roblek)
- Overcoming Obsessive Compulsive Disorder – Therapist Protocol (McKay & Steketee)
- Treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (Steketee)
- Exposure and Response (Ritual) Prevention for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, 2nd edition (Foa, Yadin, & Lichner)
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
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)
Self-help Books
- 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)
Important Note: The books listed above are based on empirically-supported in-person treatments. They have not necessarily been evaluated empirically either by themselves or in conjunction with in-person treatment. We list them as a resource for clinicians who assign them as an adjunct to conducting in-person treatment.
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)
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)
Other Treatment Resources