Family Accommodation in OCD

Abstract

The impact of psychiatric disorders often goes beyond the affected individual, extending to family members, partners, and close friends. This is certainly true in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Clinical experience and empirical research have long shown that relatives of individuals with OCD commonly become involved in the symptoms of the disorder, through a process known as family accommodation. Family accommodation has important implications for the conceptualization, clinical course, and treatment of OCD. This chapter provides a brief review of family accommodation in OCD and its implications for the disorder’s clinical course. It also addresses the role of family accommodation in treatment response and highlights some novel interventions that have incorporated a focus on family accommodation in OCD treatment programs.