Group versus individual treatment in obsessions without compulsions

Abstract

The principal goal of the current study was to compare the efficacy of two treatment formats, group and individual, of an empirically proven manualized cognitive-behavioural treatment (CBT) package, for obsessions without overt compulsions. It was hypothesized that individualized treatment would be more effective both in terms of post-treatment group mean improvement and end state functioning. A secondary goal was to assess the relationship between cognitive and behavioural change during treatment and link it to symptom change. Both group and individual CBT format produced a significant clinical change, but as expected individual treatment produced the greater change in symptoms and in obsessional belief. Also, the individual format showed a clear superiority over the group format in the reduction of anxiety and depression. Severity of OCD symptoms showed little relationship with strength of obsessional beliefs at the start of treatment, but change in beliefs was strongly correlated with behavioural improvement post-treatment. The results of the study suggest that the impact of a group format may lie in the value of shared social support and motivational effect of peer feedback, but at the expense of individualized targets.

Overcoming treatment resistance in obsessive–compulsive disorder

“…Another important dimension for CBT treatment effectiveness is how it is delivered. Although clinician consensus is that individually tailored and professionally directed delivery is optimal, there is encouraging support for group formats leading to significant gains even in intractable subtypes (10). The review in the current issue by Barlow et al.…”

Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Early Psychosis: A Comprehensive Review of Individual vs. Group Treatment Studies

“…A recent report for insomnia (Bastien, Morin, Ouellet, Blais, & Bouchard, 2004) and another for depression (Lockwood, Page, & Conroy-Hiller, 2004) found group CBT to be approximately equivalent to individual CBT. An additional study found individual CBT to be more effective than group CBT for bulimia nervosa (Nevonen & Broberg, 2006), and another study found individual CBT to be more effective than group CBT for obsessions without compulsions (O'Connor et al, 2005). However, there is support for general CBT-based early interventions across disorders, such as for panic disorder, (Nuthall & Townend, 2007), major depressive disorder (Quiring, Monroe, Simons, & Thase, 2002), and trauma (Ehlers & Clark, 2003) for example.…”

Diagnostik und evidenzbasierte Psychotherapie der Zwangsstörung

“…Diese Verfahren fokussieren u. a. auf die Funktionen von Gedanken und Gefühlen und die Bereitschaft, trotz belastender Emotionen achtsam zu handeln. IBA [14] und DIRT [15] waren gleich wirksam wie die etablierten VT-Verfahren. Beide Studien haben allerdings zu kleine Stichproben, um über Äquivalenz Aussagen machen zu können.…”