High-density exposure therapy for obsessive-compulsive inpatients: A 1-year follow-up

Background: This study evaluates the effects of individual high-density exp osure (2-3 weeks, all day) plus response prevention therapy on 85 unselecte d inpatients suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Methods: T wenty-eight therapist practitioners performed treatment. Results: At 1-year follow-up, self-ratings indicated that patients on average felt much impro ved. Impairment by both obsessions and compulsions was significantly reduce d (p<0.001 in each case), and OCD symptoms as assessed by two OCD questionn aires had also decreased significantly, as had depressiveness and overall s ymptomatology (all p<0.001). Defining improvements as >30% successes, as do ne in other OCD treatment outcome studies, success rates were 68 and 69%, r espectively, for the two OCD questionnaire scores, 75% for self-rated impai rment by obsessions and 84.5% for compulsions, 85.6% for overall psychopath ology (General Symptom Index), and 75% for depressiveness (Beck Depression Inventory). Effect sizes were >1 SD for all of the measures included. Concl usions: We conclude that long-term effects for high-density treatment of un selected OCD patients bring about as good results as treatments with exposu re and response prevention performed with selected patient samples in a res earch context.