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11 - Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder:

An Updated Cognitive Behavioral Approach

from Part Three - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Associated Disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2022

By
Oliver Sündermann  and
David Veale
Edited by
Gillian Todd  and
Rhena Branch
Gillian Todd
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
Rhena Branch
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
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Summary

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and exposure and response prevention (E/RP) remain the treatments of choice for OCD, but for many clients outcomes are suboptimal. In the first part of this chapter, we present the CBT approach to OCD, alongside four promising areas to inform and refine current interventions, namely, optimizing E/RP with inhibitory learning principles; understanding complexity in OCD, differences in disgust, and harm avoidance; and using imagery rescripting for clients with intrusive images. In the second part, we provide an updated CBT and E/RP approach to OCD that integrates these areas into the standard assessment and treatment protocol. The approach emphasizes the importance of a clear developmental formulation with links of past relevant experiences to current OCD, and understanding the context, function, and unintended consequences of obsessions and compulsions. OCD measures and screening tools are introduced.

Keywords

obsessive-compulsive disorderCBTERPinhibitory learningcomplexitydisgustimagery rescripting
Type
Chapter
Information
Evidence-Based Treatment for Anxiety Disorders and Depression
A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Compendium
 , pp. 197 - 221
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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