Parental involvement in the treatment of childhood obsessive compulsive disorder: A multiple-baseline examination incorporating parents

Abstract

The efficacy of exposure and response prevention and the potential contribution of parental involvement in treatment were investigated for four children with principal DSM-III-R diagnoses of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) referred to the Center for Stress and Anxiety Disorders, Child and Adolescent Fear and Anxiety Treatment Program. Monitoring consisted of parent and child diaries of obsessive compulsive symptoms and daily child Subjective Units of Distress (SUDS) ratings for a 10-item hierarchy. Children progressed in a multiple baseline fashion through four phases: baseline monitoring, exposure and response prevention, exposure and response prevention plus parent involvement, and maintenance. Results through 12-month follow-up suggest that exposure and response prevention with parent involvement shows promise in the treatment of childhood OCD.