Cognitive-behavioral therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder: A meta-analysis of treatment outcome and moderators
Section snippets
Study selection
Well-controlled (see inclusion criteria below) randomized trials (RCTs) of CBT for OCD were selected using a comprehensive search strategy. A search was conducted in the following databases: PsycINFO (1840 to December 2011), MEDLINE (1966 to December 2011), and Scopus (1869 to December 2011). The searches included the following terms: “cognitive behavioral” or “cognitive behavioral therapy”, and “clinical trial,” or “trial” alone and in combination with “obsessive-compulsive,” “obsessive
Question 1: does CBT outperform the control conditions on primary OCD outcome measures at post-treatment and follow-up?
The post-treatment analysis included 16 studies with 756 participants. Consistent with prediction, Fig. 2 shows that CBT outperformed control conditions on primary outcome (i.e., OCD symptoms) measures at post-treatment showing a large effect size (Hedges's g = 1.39 [SE = 0.18, 95% CI: 1.04–1.74, p = 0.000]). The follow-up analysis included 3 studies with 111 participants. CBT outperformed control conditions on primary outcome measures at follow-up showing a medium effect size (Hedges's g
Discussion
The present investigation employed meta-analysis to examine the efficacy of CBT for OCD. Consistent with predictions, CBT outperformed control conditions on primary OCD symptom outcome measures at post-treatment showing a large effect size. This finding is consistent with prior meta-analyses demonstrating that CBT is highly effective in reducing OCD symptoms (Abramowitz, 1997; Rosa-Alcázar et al., 2008). Importantly, the present study included a number of studies that have been published since
Conflict of interest
All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Contributors
B. Olatunji designed the meta-analysis, analyzed data, and wrote first draft of the manuscript.
M. Davis assisted with the design of the meta-analysis, data analysis, and manuscript preparation.
M. Powers assisted with data collect, data analysis, and preparation of the manuscript.
J. Smits assisted with the design of the meta-analysis, data analysis, and preparation of the manuscript.
Role of funding source
None.
Acknowledgement
The authors would to thank Mimi Zhao for her assistance with this study.
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Indicates studies used in the meta-analysis.