Investigating the Effect of Cognitive-behavioral Group Therapy on Children with Obsessive-compulsive Disorder

Abstract

Early onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder in childhood is bad news. That is why designing and testing various interventions that target this disorder at an early age is very important. In this regard, the present study aims to study the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral group therapy on children with obsessive-compulsive disorder. This quasi-experimental study consisted of pre-test, post-test, and follow-up stages. Out of the population of children 6 to 12 years old with obsessive-compulsive disorder referring to psychological counseling centers in Isfahan, 30 individuals were selected. Then they were randomly divided into two groups of experimental group who received cognitive behavioral therapy and control group. The experimental group received 12 sessions of group therapy intervention based on cognitive-behavioral model on a weekly basis. Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale was filled by the subjects in pre-test, post-test, and follow-up stages. Analysis of variance with repeated measures was used to analyze the data. The results showed that cognitive-behavioral group therapy in all areas of obsession and compulsion of time, interference, discomfort, resistance, and control had a significant impact (α˂ 0.01 ). The results obtained in this study show the effectiveness of group therapy and group interventions in addition to other privileges of them. Key words : obsessive-compulsive disorder, group therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, child, mother