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Blended individual and group CBT for OCD in adolescents: model description and a feasibility study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2024

Laura Kunnari ,
Sini Mainz ,
Niklas Granö ,
Klaus Ranta ,
Anni Mäkelä  and
Paul Salkovskis
Laura Kunnari*
Affiliation:
University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Finland
Sini Mainz
Affiliation:
University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Finland
Niklas Granö
Affiliation:
University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Finland
Klaus Ranta
Affiliation:
University of Tampere, Finland
Anni Mäkelä
Affiliation:
University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Finland
Paul Salkovskis
Affiliation:
University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
*
Corresponding author: Laura Kunnari; Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Cognitive-behavioural treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is effective across the lifespan but is not widely available across the range of services. Delivering CBT as a blended treatment combining individual and group-based treatment with flexible parental involvement, adapted to the operational style of any particular service, is a promising option which we aimed to examine in OCD with adolescent samples. In a young people’s service based in a University Hospital, we evaluated the impact of a blended treatment combined with flexible parental involvement with adolescents (age 14–18 years of age). The CBT model used with OCD sufferers was a formulation driven approach, emphasising the importance of providing an alternative account linked to the way responsibility beliefs lead to compulsive behaviour. Six consecutively referred adolescents with their parents participated in a treatment group. Intervention consisted of eight individual meetings, eight group meetings and two meetings with parents. Five of six adolescents carried out the whole intervention. Of all participants, 5/5 scored in the clinical range for OCD at baseline, and 5/5 were no longer in the clinical range by the end of treatment; 5/5 were in the clinical range on general psychiatric problems at baseline, and 4/5 were rated as recovered at the end of treatment. Comparable changes were noted in measures of responsibility linked to intrusive thoughts. Use of a blended individual/group treatment based on a CBT model is feasible, with the results obtained being consistent with previous work on individual CBT treatment.

Key learning aims

  1. (1) Delivering CBT to adolescents with OCD as a blended treatment combining individual and group-based treatment with flexible parental involvement is a promising option which merits further evaluation.

  2. (2) OCD symptoms and general psychiatric symptoms were reduced during and after treatment.

  3. (3) Use of a blended treatment based on a CBT model is feasible.

Keywords

AdolescentsCBTGroup interventionOCD
Type
Service Models, Forms of Delivery and Cultural Adaptations of CBT
Information
the Cognitive Behaviour Therapist , Volume 17 , 2024 , e3
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies

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References

Further reading

Bream, V., Challacombe, F., Palmer, A., & Salkovskis, P. (2017). Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for OCD. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

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