The Effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy on Reducing Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in Women with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of emotion-focused therapy (EFT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) on reducing obsessive-compulsive symptoms in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Methods: In order to select the participants of the study, 30 patients with OCD were selected from the patients referred to the clinics and counseling centers of Isfahan City, Iran, in 2018, using purposive sampling method. They were divided into three groups of EFT (10 people), DBT (10 people), and control (10 people). EFT and DBT were performed during eight weekly sessions, and the control group did not receive any special treatment during this period of time. Yale-brown obsessive-compulsive scale was completed in three stages of pretest, posttest, and follow up. To analyze the data, the method of analysis of variance with repeated measurements was used. Findings: The efficacy of EFT and DBT on reducing obsessive-compulsive symptoms of patients was significant in posttest scores (P < 0.050). Conclusion: The findings of this study have potentially significant implications for practitioners and therapists to pay attention to the effectiveness of EFT and DBT on the reduction of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in women with OCD.

Keywords

• Emotion-focused therapy
• Dialectical behavior therapy
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder