Cognitive-behavioral treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder:: An inpatient group treatment program

Background: While group behavioral treatments have proven effective in treating anxiety-disordered patients such as social phobics, studies that investigate standardized group treatment programs for OCD are rare. This study presents the development and evaluation of an cognitive-behavioral inpatient group treatment program for OCD. Method: 23 inpatients, meeting the DSM-IV criteria for OCD, completed apart from the regular therapeutic program a 7-2-h session manualized group therapy on the basis of self management as well as cognitive-behavioral concepts. Results: Assessments were conducted before treatment, at admission, at the end of treatment and at 3-month follow-up. Y-BOCS scores did not change in the pretreatment period but reduced significantly at posttest [from 25.8 (5.4) to 13.9(6.9)] and were maintained at 3-month follow-up. Clients-ratings of the group treatment program were positive.