title: Group versus individual cognitive treatment for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: changes in non-OCD symptoms and cognitions at post-treatment and one-year follow-up.
abstract: Current cognitive approaches postulate that obsessions and compulsions are caused and/or maintained by misinterpretations about their meaning. This assumption has led to the development of cognitive therapeutic (CT) procedures designed to challenge the dysfunctional appraisals and beliefs patients have about their obsessions. Nonetheless, few studies have compared the efficacy of individual and group CT in changing the dysfunctional cognitions that hypothetically underlie Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). In this study, 44 OCD patients were assigned to individual (n=18) or group (n=24) CT. Sixteen completed the individual CT, and 22 completed the group CT. The effects of the two CT conditions on depression and worry tendencies were comparable. Individual treatment was more effective than group treatment in decreasing scores on dysfunctional beliefs (responsibility, overestimation of threat, and intolerance to uncertainty) and the use of suppression as a thought control strategy. The post-treatment changes were maintained one year later. The correlations between symptom improvement (OCD severity change) and belief changes were moderate: in the individual treatment the greatest associations were with beliefs about thoughts (importance and control), whereas in the group treatment the greatest associations were with beliefs related to anxiety in general (threat overestimation and intolerance to uncertainty).
authors.affiliation: Departmento de Psicologia de la Personalidad, Universidad de Valencia, Valencia, Spain. amparo.belloch@uv.es
authors.forename: Amparo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Belloch
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cabedo
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carrió
authors.forename: Héctor
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fernández-Alvarez
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: García
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Larsson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001118:Argentina / Q000453:epidemiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult