The potential of telemental health applications for obsessive-compulsive disorder.
BACKGROUND
Only a small percentage of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) receive adequate treatment. Reasons include a high level of shame and stigmatisation and the paucity of specialised treatment services. Telemental health (TMH) treatment could improve the therapeutic situation as has been shown for various mental disorders. This review critically evaluates the current body of evidence on TMH applications for OCD patients. The review focuses on studies that include exposure therapy with response prevention as the best validated treatment component.


METHODS
Relevant publications were identified through computerised searches of the databases PsycINFO and PubMed and manual searches. No date or study type restrictions were applied.


RESULTS
Twenty-four studies on different types of TMH applications were identified: bibliotherapy (7), telephone-delivered (11), computer-aided (3), online self-help group (1) and video-conference (2). Nearly all interventions lead to a significant improvement of OC symptoms. Effect sizes ranged from 0.46 to 2.5.


CONCLUSIONS
Preliminary evidence suggests that TMH applications represent a low-threshold, efficacious, time-effective and economic treatment for patients with OCD. Future studies are needed to further investigate the potential of TMH treatment to improve health care for patients with OCD.
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Freiburg, Germany. Nirmal.Herbst@uniklinik-freiburg.de
Nirmal
N
Herbst
Ulrich
U
Voderholzer
Nicola
N
Stelzer
Christine
C
Knaevelsrud
Elisabeth
E
Hertenstein
Sandra
S
Schlegl
Christoph
C
Nissen
Anne Katrin
AK
Külz
D001638:Bibliotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007171:Implosive Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D012657:Self-Help Groups; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods*; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*