Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T05:10:44.343Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What do you really need? Self- and partner-reported intervention preferences within cognitive behavioural therapy for reassurance seeking behaviour

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2019

Rachael L. Neal Open the ORCID record for Rachael L. Neal [Opens in a new window]  and
Adam S. Radomsky Open the ORCID record for Adam S. Radomsky [Opens in a new window]
Rachael L. Neal
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montréal, Canada
Adam S. Radomsky*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montréal, Canada
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background:

Reassurance seeking (RS) in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is commonly addressed in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) using a technique called reducing accommodation. Reducing accommodation is a behaviourally based CBT intervention that may be effective; however, there is a lack of controlled research on its use and acceptability to clients/patients, and case studies suggest that it can be associated with negative emotional/behavioural consequences. Providing support to encourage coping with distress is a cognitively based CBT intervention that may be an effective alternative, but lacks evidence regarding its acceptability.

Aims:

This study aimed to determine whether support provision may be a more acceptable/endorsed CBT intervention for RS than a strict reducing accommodation approach.

Method:

Participants and familiar partners (N = 179) read vignette descriptions of accommodation reduction and support interventions, and responded to measures of perceived intervention acceptability/adhereability and endorsement, before completing a forced-choice preference task.

Results:

Overall, findings suggested that participants and partners gave significantly higher ratings for the support than the accommodation reduction intervention (partial η2 = .049 to .321). Participants and partners also both selected the support intervention more often than the traditional reducing accommodation intervention when given the choice.

Conclusions:

Support provision is perceived as an acceptable CBT intervention for RS by participants and their familiar partners. These results have implications for cognitive behavioural theory and practice related to RS.

Keywords

acceptabilitycognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)intervention preferenceobsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)partnersreassurance seeking
Type
Main
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 48 , Issue 1 , January 2020 , pp. 25 - 37
Copyright
© British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramowitz, J. S. (2009). Getting over OCD: A 10-step Workbook for Taking Back Your Life. New York, NY, USA: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Abramowitz, J. S., Baucom, D. H., Boeding, S., Wheaton, M. G., Pukay-Martin, N. D., Fabricant, L. E., … & Fischer, M. S. (2013). Treating obsessive-compulsive disorder in intimate relationships: a pilot study of couple-based cognitive-behavior therapy. Behavior Therapy, 44, 395–407.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Abramowitz, J. S., Fabricant, L. E., Taylor, S., Deacon, B. J., McKay, D., & Storch, E. A. (2014). The relevance of analogue studies for understanding obsessions and compulsions. Clinical Psychology Review, 34, 206–217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beesdo-Baum, K., Jenjahn, E., Höfler, M., Lueken, U., Becker, E. S., & Hoyer, J. (2012). Avoidance, safety behavior, and reassurance seeking in generalized anxiety disorder. Depression and Anxiety, 29, 948–957.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caporino, N. E., & Karver, M. S. (2012). The acceptability of treatments for depression to a community sample of adolescent girls. Journal of Adolescence, 35, 1237–1245.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clark, D. A. (2004). Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for OCD. New York, NY, USA: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Coyne, J. C. (1976). Toward an interactional description of depression. Psychiatry, 39, 28–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craske, M. G., Treanor, M., Conway, C. C., Zbozinek, T., & Vervliet, B. (2014). Maximizing exposure therapy: an inhibitory learning approach. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 58, 10–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elliott, A. J., & Fuqua, R. W. (2002). Acceptability of treatments for trichotillomania: effects of age and severity. Behavior Modification, 26, 378–399.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, J. R., & Jastrowski Mano, K. (2016). The effect of parent anxiety on treatment acceptability and retention of diagnostic feedback. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 31, 140–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Field, A. (2009). Discovering Statistics using SPSS. Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Foa, E. B., & Kozak, M. J. (1986). Emotional processing of fear: exposure to corrective information. Psychological Bulletin, 99, 20–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gillihan, S. J., Williams, M. T., Malcoun, E., Yadin, E., & Foa, E. B. (2012). Common pitfalls in exposure and response prevention (EX/RP) for OCD. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 1, 251–257.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hallam, R. S. (1974). Extinction of ruminations: a case study. Behavior Therapy, 5, 565–568.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halldorsson, B., & Salkovskis, P. M. (2017a). Treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder and excessive reassurance seeking in an older adult: a single case quasi-experimental design. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 45, 616–628.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halldorsson, B., & Salkovskis, P. M. (2017b). Why do people with OCD and health anxiety seek reassurance excessively? An investigation of differences and similarities in function. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 41, 619–631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halldorsson, B., Salkovskis, P. M., Kobori, O., & Pagdin, R. (2016). I do not know what else to do: caregivers’ perspective on reassurance seeking in OCD. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 8, 21–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heerey, E. A., & Kring, A. M. (2007). Interpersonal consequences of social anxiety. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 116, 125–134.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kobori, O., & Salkovskis, P. M. (2013). Patterns of reassurance seeking and reassurance-related behaviours in OCD and anxiety disorders. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 41, 1–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levy, H. C., & Radomsky, A. S. (2014). Safety behaviour enhances the acceptability of exposure. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 43, 83–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levy, H. C., & Radomsky, A. S. (2016). It’s the who not the when: an investigation of safety behavior fading in exposure to contamination. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 39, 21–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marinchak, J. (2013). Treating a mother’s accommodation behaviors of her adult son’s OCD: the case of ‘Brianne’ and ‘Charlie’. Pragmatic Case Studies in Psychotherapy, 9, 1–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milosevic, I., Levy, H. C., Alcolado, G. M., & Radomsky, A. S. (2015). The treatment acceptability/adherence scale: moving beyond the assessment of treatment effectiveness. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 44, 456–469.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Milosevic, I., & Radomsky, A. S. (2013). Incorporating the judicious use of safety behavior into exposure-based treatments for anxiety disorders: a study of treatment acceptability. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 27, 155–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neal, R. L., & Radomsky, A. S. (2015). An experimental investigation of contamination-related reassurance seeking: familiar versus unfamiliar others. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 49, 188–194.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Neal, R. L., & Radomsky, A. S. (2019). How do I say this? An experimental comparison of the effects of partner feedback styles on reassurance seeking behaviour. Cognitive Therapy and Research. Advance online publication: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-019-10007-0 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osborne, D. W. S., & Williams, C. J. (2013). Excessive reassurance seeking. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 19, 420–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parrish, C. L., & Radomsky, A. S. (2010). Why do people seek reassurance and check repeatedly? An investigation of factors involved in compulsive behavior in OCD and depression. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 24, 211–222.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parrish, C. L., Radomsky, A. S., & Dugas, M. J. (2008). Anxiety-control strategies: is there room for neutralization in successful exposure treatment? Clinical Psychology Review, 28, 1400–1412.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Persons, J. B. (2012). The Case Formulation Approach to Cognitive-Behavior Therapy. New York, NY, USA: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Rachman, S. (1997). A cognitive theory of obsessions. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35, 793–802.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rachman, S. (2002). A cognitive theory of compulsive checking. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40, 625–639.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rachman, S. (2012). Health anxiety disorders: a cognitive construal. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 50, 502–512.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rachman, S., Radomsky, A. S., & Shafran, R. (2008). Safety behaviour: a reconsideration. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46, 163–173.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Radomsky, A. S., Neal, R. L., Parrish, C. L., Lavoie, S., & Schell, S. E. (2018). The Covert and Overt Reassurance Seeking Inventory: Development, validation, and psychometric analyses. Manuscript submitted for publication.Google Scholar
Rector, N. A., Kamkar, K., Cassin, S. E., Ayearst, L. E., & Laposa, J. M. (2011). Assessing excessive reassurance seeking in the anxiety disorders. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 25, 911–917.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salkovskis, P. M. (1985). Obsessional-compulsive problems: a cognitive-behavioural analysis. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 23, 571–583.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salkovskis, P. M. (1999). Understanding and treating obsessive-compulsive disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 37, S29–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salkovskis, P. M., & Warwick, H. M. (1986). Morbid preoccupations, health anxiety and reassurance: a cognitive-behavioural approach to hypochondriasis. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 24, 597–602.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Senn, J. M., & Radomsky, A. S. (2015). Measuring beliefs about distraction: might the function of distraction matter more than distraction itself? Cognitive Therapy and Research, 39, 826–840.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sighvatsson, M. B., & Salkovskis, P. (2013). Behaviour, cognition and the theoretical problems of safety-seeking behaviours. In Halldorsson, B. (Chair), Having it All? Balancing Transdiagnostic and Specific Interventions and Processes in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. Symposium conducted at the 43rd Annual Congress of the European Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies, September 2013, Marrakech, Morocco.Google Scholar
Soucy, J. N., & Hadjistavropoulos, H. D. (2017). Treatment acceptability and preferences for managing severe health anxiety: perceptions of internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy among primary care patients. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 57, 14–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Starcevic, V., Berle, D., Brakoulias, V., Sammut, P., Moses, K., Milicevic, D., & Hannan, A. (2012). Interpersonal reassurance seeking in obsessive-compulsive disorder and its relationship with checking compulsions. Psychiatry Research, 200, 560–567.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tarrier, N., Liversidge, T., & Gregg, L. (2006). The acceptability and preference for the psychological treatment of PTSD. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44, 1643–1656.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thompson-Hollands, J., Abramovitch, A., Tompson, M. C., & Barlow, D. H. (2015). A randomized clinical trial of a brief family intervention to reduce accommodation in obsessive-compulsive disorder: A preliminary study. Behavior Therapy, 46, 218–229.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Neal and Radomsky supplementary material

Appendix A

Download Neal and Radomsky supplementary material(File)
File 31.5 KB
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.