Three Treatment Approaches for Obsessions

Obsessions are considered more difficult to treat than compulsions because of their intangible and subjective nature and the special problems which they pose for gaining stimulus control. This study applied a single subject design with repeated measures for each of six patients. Exposure to imagery,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of cognitive psychotherapy Vol. 4; no. 4; pp. 377 - 392
Main Authors Neziroglu, Fugen, Neuman, Jeffrey
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Springer Publishing Company 01.01.1990
Subjects
Applied Psychology
Behavioral Sciences
Cognitive, Biological, and Neurological Psychology
Counseling
Mental Health Counselling
Psychology
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Summary:Obsessions are considered more difficult to treat than compulsions because of their intangible and subjective nature and the special problems which they pose for gaining stimulus control. This study applied a single subject design with repeated measures for each of six patients. Exposure to imagery, thought stopping, and rational-emotive therapy (RET) were the independent variables. Three separate treatment phases were employed, which consisted of baseline, intervention, and follow-up. The dependent variables were self-reports of the frequency, intensity and duration of obsessions. For three patients RET appeared to be an effective strategy. For one of the three exposure was effective but further gains were made during RET. Three patients did not respond to any of the treatments. It appears that RET may be effective with obsessional patients who have historically been quite resistant to behavioral treatment. It seems that thought stopping is an ineffective approach and that exposure needs to be investigated further.
ISSN:0889-8391
1938-887X
DOI:10.1891/0889-8391.4.4.377