Behavior Therapy Augments Response of Patients With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Responding to Drug Treatment
Nienke H. Tenneij, PhD; Harold J. G. M. van Megen, MD; Damiaan A. J. P. Denys, MD; and Herman G. M. Westenberg, PhD
J Clin Psychiatry 2005;66(9):1169-1175
© Copyright 2015 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.
To view this item, select one of the options below.
-
-
Purchase This PDF for $40.00
If you are not a paid subscriber, you may purchase the PDF.
(You'll need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.)
-
Subscribe
Receive immediate full-text access to JCP. You can subscribe to JCP online-only ($86) or print + online ($156 individual).
With your subscription, receive a free PDF collection of the NCDEU Festschrift articles. Hurry! This offer ends December 31, 2011.
-
-
Activate
If you are a paid subscriber to JCP and do not yet have a username and password, activate your subscription now.
-
Sign in
As a paid subscriber who has activated your subscription, you have access to the HTML and PDF versions of this item.
-
Click here to login.
-
Did you forget your password?
Still can't log in? Contact the Circulation Department at 1-800-489-1001 x4 or send email
Objective: In many patients with
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), residual
symptoms persist despite a clinically meaningful
response. The objective of this study was to
examine whether addition of behavior therapy would
augment treatment outcome in these patients.
Method: Ninety-six patients with
DSM-IV OCD who had responded to 3 months of drug treatment were randomly assigned to either
receive addition of behavior therapy or continue
on drug treatment alone for 6 months. Patients who continued on drug treatment alone eventually
received addition of behavior therapy for 6
months. Data were gathered from October 1998 to
June 2002.
Results: OCD patients who received
addition of behavior therapy showed a greater
improvement in obsessive-compulsive symptoms (Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale
[Y-BOCS] score change = -3.9 in the completers
sample) than those who continued on drug treatment
alone (Y-BOCS score change = +3.9 for completers). Significantly more patients who received
addition of behavior therapy were in remission
compared with those who continued on drug treatment
alone (p < .0001 for completers). Patients who
received behavior therapy after 6 months of drug
treatment alone showed a nonsignificant decline in
obsessive-compulsive symptoms (Y-BOCS score change = -2.7 for completers); however, the
remission rate found in this group was comparable to the remission rate found in the group of
patients receiving addition of behavior therapy directly after responding to drug treatment.
Conclusion: The results indicate that
addition of behavior therapy is beneficial for patients
who have responded to drug treatment. The data
also suggest that the effect is greater when
behavior therapy is added immediately after attainment
of the drug response.