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Stability of Treatment Gains 10 Years After Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: a Study in Routine Clinical Practice

  • Advancements in Cognitive-Behavioral Modeling and Treatment of OCD
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Abstract

Individual cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the treatment of choice for OCD, as demonstrated by RCTs. Nonetheless, the stability of long-term treatment gains has been investigated less. This study aims to test the stability of CBT gains for OCD after 10 years when CBT is delivered in community settings in routine clinical practice. Fifty-one OCD patients started the treatment, and 43 completed it. Forty-one patients were available at 1-year follow-up, and 29 at 10-year follow-up. CBT was effective in decreasing OCD severity, depression, dysfunctional beliefs about obsessions, and thought-suppressing tendencies. These changes occurred at post-treatment and remained stable 1 year and 10 years later. The effect sizes of changes were large for Y-BOCS. In all, 58.62% of patients were recovered after CBT, and this was maintained 10 years later. The results show that CBT for OCD can be delivered in routine clinical practice without compromising efficacy.

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Funding

This study was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, MINECO (Grant PSI2013-44733-R) and by the Conselleria d’ Educació, Cultura i Esport, Generalitat Valenciana (Grant PROMETEO/2013/066). The two funding agencies played no role in the study design; data collection, analysis, or interpretation; the writing of the report; or the decision to submit this paper for publication.

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Correspondence to Elena Cabedo.

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The Ethics Committees of the Hospitals approved the study design and the assessment and treatment protocols.

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Cabedo, E., Carrió, C. & Belloch, A. Stability of Treatment Gains 10 Years After Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: a Study in Routine Clinical Practice. J Cogn Ther 11, 44–57 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41811-018-0002-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41811-018-0002-4

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