A time-limited behavioral group for treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder

In vivo exposure with response prevention is an effective treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) either alone or combined with pharmacotherapy. Widespread application of this technique has been limited by lack of trained therapists and the expense of intensive individual behavioral therapy. This report describes a time-limited 10-session behavioral therapy group for OCD whose key elements are exposure, response prevention, therapist and participant modeling, and cognitive restructuring. In a naturalistic open trial of 90 patients meeting DSM-III-R criteria for OCD who completed the 10-session group, self-administered Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale scores (mean +/- SD) were 21.8 +/- 5.6 at baseline and 16.6 +/- 6.4 after the 10-week treatment, a significant decrease. A descriptive analysis of the therapeutic elements of the group and its advantages over individual behavioral treatment are presented.