Family involvement in the behavioral treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder: A preliminary investigation

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of family involvement in the behavioral treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Two groups of OCD patients (14 in each group) received exposure and response prevention (ERP alone) individually from a trained behavior therapist. One group was in a family involvement group (FI), where 1 family member participated in an 8-week family-intervention group for each of the 14 FI patients. In the ERP-alone group, only individual behavior therapy was conducted. Results indicated that patients whose family member was involved in the FI group had a greater reduction in OCD symptoms than patients whose family member was not involved. Patients in the FI group also experienced a greater reduction in depressive symptoms. Furthermore, expressed emotion in treated family members diminished significantly more than those in the ERP-alone group. In addition, anxiety and depression were significantly lower in the family members of the FI group at the end of treatment. These gains were maintained at 1-month follow-up. The study suggests that there is an advantage to inclusion of family members during the behavior therapy of OCD patients.