Psychiatrists Offer 5 Strategies for Integrating Videoconferencing Into OCD Treatment

People with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can benefit from medication and/or psychotherapy that teaches them to confront situations that trigger obsessive fears while refraining from performing compulsions. Yet, for many with OCD, these therapies may be out of reach due to therapists ’ availability, cost, location, and more.“Increasing evidence suggests that digital health technologies, including videoconferencing and other approaches (for example, online platforms, websites, and mobile applications) can circumvent these barriers,” wrote Reilly R. Kayser, M.D., of Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicia ns and Surgeons and colleagues in anarticle in Psychiatric Services in Advance.One evidence-based treatment for OCD is exposure with response/ritual prevention (EX/RP) —a standardized treatment in which patients are encouraged to gradually approach feared stimuli through real-life and imagined exposures. Drawing from their experience at Columbia’s Center for OCD and Related Disorders, Kayser and colleagues describe five potential strategies for integrating vid eoconferencing into OCD treatment, including advantages and challenges of each approach:Hybrid EX/RP: Beginning EX/RP treatment in person enables therapists to establish the therapeutic alliance with the patient, supervise patients ’ successful completion of exposures before practicing them independently, and overall progress. Videoconferencing offers patients and therapists the ability to a...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: EX/RP exposure with response/ritual prevention in-person medication obsessive-compulsive disorder Psychiatric Services in Advance remote videoconferencing Source Type: research