Long-term effects of cognitive treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder: a singlecase study

Abstract

A case-history of a 31-years old woman with a main diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is described. The OCD duration was of one year and their severity degree was moderate. The obsessive ideas were mainly related to self- and hetero-aggressive contents. At the onset of psychological evaluation she was under pharmacological treatment (9 months). The medication was able to alleviate the depressive symptoms but did not had effects on OCD symptoms. After a psychometric evaluation (obsession, depression and anxiety questionnaires) and an idiosyncrasic assessment to evaluate the dysfunctional beliefs about obsessions, a Cognitive Treatment specially designed to the change of obsession-related beliefs, was applied during 22 weekly sessions of one-hour of duration each. The treatment was highly effective and the changes were maintained after a one year of follow-up. These changes are reflected on psychometric measures as well as on clinical features.