Behavioral treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder in African Americans: clinical issues

African Americans with obessive-compulsive disorder are underrepresented in behavioral treatment outcome studies. This paper consists of a clinical discussion of issues arising during the treatment with exposure plus response prevention of two African-American women with obessive-compulsive disorder. Clinical issues, such as excessive shame, insanity fears, and a sense of uniqueness, complicated the treatment process. However, both clients made significant improvement as assessed by behavioral testing, target ratings and the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale.