Treatment Effects of Family Based Cognitive Therapy in Children and Adolescents With Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Family Based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (FCBT) focuses on the interrelation between thought, emotion, and behaviour, Exposure and Response Prevention, family involvement, homework assignments, and formulating of specific goals for the child. The important, active components is Exposure and Response Prevention. It involves exposing the child to a feared object, situation or thought, and preventing the child from carrying out compulsions to show the child that distress/anxiety can decrease or disappear without performing rituals.

Family-based Psychoeducation/Relaxation Training (FPRT) as an active control matches the experimental intervention as closely as possible, many elements of the control intervention are similar to FCBT. The main and intended difference between the two approaches is the absence of the Exposure and Response Prevention component, which is deemed the most effective treatment for OCD.