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Addressing Barriers to Change in the Treatment of Childhood Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

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Abstract

Although considerable evidence supports the use of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for the treatment of childhood obsessive compulsive disorder, large numbers of youth fail to respond and clinical remission is often elusive. Poor family functioning frequently is implicated as an obstacle for youth undergoing CBT, with features such as symptom accommodation, family conflict, and blame known to attenuate outcomes. These features are common in child and adolescent obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and they may pose particular challenges for exposure-based treatments. Nonetheless, interventions that focus specifically on family functioning have, to date, been limited. This paper reviews the literature on family features associated with childhood OCD and discusses their links to treatment outcome. It then describes the development of a brief family intervention tailored to address the needs of highly distressed families of youth with OCD in the service of improving individual child CBT outcomes. Preliminary pilot data are presented and clinical implications are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Grants from the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation (Piacentini, Peris) and NIMH K23 MH085058 (Peris).

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  1. Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, 760 Westwood Plaza, Rm. 67-439, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Tara S. Peris & John Piacentini

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  1. Tara S. Peris
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  2. John Piacentini
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Correspondence to Tara S. Peris.

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Peris, T.S., Piacentini, J. Addressing Barriers to Change in the Treatment of Childhood Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. J Rat-Emo Cognitive-Behav Ther 32, 31–43 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-014-0183-6

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