Self-directed treatment with minimal therapist contact: preliminary findings for obsessive-compulsive disorder

The efficacy of a brief intervention for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) was examined with nine clients. Treatment consisted of five meetings with the therapists, readings from When once is not enough (Steketee & White, 1990), and self-directed exposure with response prevention. The self-report version of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale was the primary dependent measure. Participants who received treatment after a 6-week delay showed stability of severity of OCD over the waiting period. As a group, participants showed statistically significant improvement on the main outcome measures. One-third of the clients met criteria for clinically significant improvement indicating that some individuals suffering with OCD can be helped with a brief intervention.