Behavioural and cognitive behavioural therapy for obsessive compulsive disorder in children and adolescents

Behavioural or cognitive-behaviour therapy alone appears to be an effective treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder in children and adolescents. It is as effective as medication alone and may lead to better outcomes when combined with medication compared to medication alone.

A Cochrane review included 8 studies with a total of 343 subjects aged 18 years or younger with a diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The review found evidence for lower post-treatment OCD severity and reduced risk of continuing with OCD for the behavioural or cognitive-behavioural therapy (BT/CBT) group compared to pill placebo or wait-list comparisons. There was no evidence found that the efficacy of BT/CBT alone and medication alone differ in terms of post treatment symptom severity or in the risk of having OCD. There was some evidence of a benefit for combined BT/CBT and medication compared to medication alone but not relative to BT/CBT alone. The low rates of drop out suggested BT/CBT is an acceptable treatment to child and adolescent patients and their families.

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by study quality (unclear allocation concealment).

Ədəbiyyat

1. O'Kearney RT, Anstey KJ, von Sanden C. Behavioural and cognitive behavioural therapy for obsessive compulsive disorder in children and adolescents. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2006;(4):CD004856 [Review content assessed as up-to-date: 2 March 2009].