Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Effective for Children and Adolescents with OCD?

There is no question that having a child with obsessive-compulsive disorder affects the whole family. I’ve written before about how pediatric OCD results in disrupted routines, stressful social interactions for children, and poor job performance for parents. Elevated stress and anxiety levels, as well as feelings of frustration, anger, and sadness become the norm in a household dictated by OCD.
I’ve also written about how important it is to get the right help as soon as possible. Even if parents or other caregivers think things are “not that bad,” the situation is likely worse than they imagine. Because children (and adults) with OCD can be adept at hiding their symptoms, they are often the only ones who know the real extent of their disorder — parents don’t often recognize the extent of their children’s suffering. And on the off chance that the OCD really isn’t “that bad,” it’s still always better to seek treatment sooner rather than later.
In an interesting review published in Psychiatry Research, predictions related to the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in children and adolescents (all under the age of 18) with OCD were made:
In predictor analyses, worse response to CBT was associated with older age, higher OCD symptom severity, higher level of OCD-related impairment, worse depressive symptoms, the presence of any comorbid mental disorder, and higher family accommodation of OCD symptoms. Medication at baseline was not a predi...

Source: World of Psychology - February 12, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Janet Singer Tags: Children and Teens OCD Psychology Psychotherapy Research Treatment Adolescence CBT Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Comorbidity Exposure and Response Prevention Obsessive Compulsive Disorder tic disorder Source Type: blogs