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Evidence-Based Psychosocial Treatments for Child and Adolescent
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Paula M. Barrett a; Lara Farrell b; Armando A. Pina c; Tara S. Peris d; John Piacentini d
a The University of Queensland, Pathways Health and Research Centre, Brisbane b Griffith University, c
Arizona State University, d UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience,
To cite this Article Barrett, Paula M., Farrell, Lara, Pina, Armando A., Peris, Tara S. and Piacentini, John(2008) ‘Evidence-
Based Psychosocial Treatments for Child and Adolescent Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder’, Journal of Clinical Child &
Adolescent Psychology, 37: 1, 131 — 155
To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/15374410701817956
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Evidence-Based Psychosocial Treatments for Child
and Adolescent Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder
Paula M. Barrett
The University of Queensland, Pathways Health and Research Centre, Brisbane
Lara Farrell
Griffith University
Armando A. Pina
Arizona State University
Tara S. Peris and John Piacentini
UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience
Child and adolescent obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic and debilitating
condition associated with a wide range of impairments. This article briefly discusses the
phenomenology of OCD, the theory underlying current treatment approaches, and
the extant psychosocial treatment literature for child and adolescent OCD relative to
the criteria for classification as an evidence-based intervention. Studies were evaluated
for methodological rigor according to the classification system of Nathan and Gorman
(2002) and then were assessed relative to the criteria for evidence-based treatments
specified by Chambless et al. (1998), Chambless et al. (1996), and Chambless and
Hollon (1998). Results from exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) trials
with children and adolescents have been consistent, with remission rates of the disorder
ranging from 40% to 85% across studies. Findings from this review indicate that individual
exposure-based CBT for child and adolescent OCD can be considered as a probably
efficacious treatment. CBT delivered in a family-focused individual or group
format can be considered as a possibly efficacious treatment. Moderators, mediators,
and predictors of treatment outcome are discussed, as are implications and generalizability
of extant findings to real-world settings. We conclude with recommendations
for best practice and future research directions.
Child and adolescent obsessive–compulsive disorder
(OCD) is a chronic and debilitating condition that
accrues significant concurrent and long-term risk to
affected youth (Bolton, Luckie, & Steinberg, 1995;
Hanna, 1995; Piacentini, Bergman, Keller, &
McCracken, 2003; Pine, Cohen, Gurley, Brook, & Ma,
1998). More common than once thought, the disorder
affects between 0.5% and 2% of children and
adolescents (Flament et al., 1988; Heyman et al., 2003;
Rapoport et al., 2000; Zohar, 1999), thus paralleling
the prevalence rates reported within the adult population
(Torres et al., 2006; Weissman et al., 1994). Growing
awareness of the scope and impact of the disorder
has been met with heightened research activity focused
on identifying effective interventions, both psychosocial
and psychopharmacological, for youth with OCD. Such
work has generated an emerging evidence base and has
spurred the publication of expert consensus guidelines
(March, Frances, Kahn, & Carpenter, 1997) and
practice parameters (American Academy of Child and
Correspondence should be addressed to Paula Barrett, PO Box
5699, West End, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 4101. E-mail:
pbarrett@pathwayshrc.com.au
Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 37(1), 131–155, 2008
Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1537-4416 print=1537-4424 online
DOI: 10.1080/15374410701817956
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Adolescent Psychiatry, 1998) for the treatment of this
disorder. Both sets of guidelines recommend exposurebased
cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), either alone
or in conjunction with a serotonin reuptake inhibitor
(SRI) as a frontline intervention for youth with OCD.
Although not empirically based, such guidelines
undoubtedly mark a big step forward for enhancing
treatment for youth with OCD; however, there is still
much to be done to further understand and improve
the available treatments for these youngsters.
In this article, we provide a brief discussion of the
phenomenology of child and adolescent OCD and
the theory underlying current treatment approaches.
We then review the current state of the psychosocial
treatment research literature, evaluating the specific
studies comprising this literature base relative to the
criteria for classification as an evidence-based intervention.
We discuss mediators, moderators, and predictors
of treatment outcome as well as the implications
and clinical generalizability of findings to date. We
conclude with a discussion of recommendations for
best practice and future directions that stem from this
body of work.
PHENOMENOLOGY
OCD is characterized by recurrent obsessions that
stimulate anxiety or other distress and lead to compulsive
behaviors (or avoidance) designed to reduce these
noxious states. Historically, the prominent role of anxiety
in the disorder has led to the classification of OCD
with other anxiety disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (e.g., DSM–IV–TR;
American Psychiatric Association, 2000). However, a
growing body of evidence from the phenomenological,
neurobiological, genetic, and treatment literatures has
raised questions about this nosological classification
and, as noted next, provides some justification for the
consideration of OCD separate from the other anxiety
disorders. Moreover, this evidence also has kindled
recent calls for the placement of OCD in a newly created
OC spectrum disorders category in DSM–V (Bartz &
Hollander, 2006).
Several lines of family, genetic, and neuropsychopharmacological
research point to OCD as a complex
neurobehavioral illness that may be distinct from other
forms of anxiety (MacMaster et al., 2006; Nestadt
et al., 2001; Szeszko et al., 2004). Richter, Summerfeldt,
Antony, and Swinson (2003) found adult patients with
OCD to have higher lifetime rates of any coexisting
spectrum disorder (including Tourette disorder, body
dysmorphic disorder, and some impulse control disorders,
among others) than patients with either social
anxiety disorder or panic disorder. In addition, the
Johns Hopkins OCD Family Study (Nestadt et al.,
2001) found higher rates of anxiety and depressive
disorder in the relatives of OCD cases versus relatives
of controls. By contrast, panic disorder, separation anxiety
disorder, and recurrent major depressive disorder
occurred more frequently in case relatives with OCD
than those without OCD. This finding suggests that
anxiety disorders co-occurring with OCD, with the possible
exception of generalized anxiety disorder and agoraphobia,
may emerge as a consequence of OCD rather
than from shared etiology.
OCD also has been distinguished from other anxiety
disorders on the basis of pathophysiology (Bartz &
Hollander, 2006). Prevailing theories underscore the role
of dysfunction in the frontal cortical-striatal-thalamocortical
networks that govern complex motor programs,
response inhibition, and affect integration (Mataix-
Cols & van den Heuvel, 2006; McCracken, 2005).
Whereas neuroimaging data implicate dysfunction in
frontal-striatal circuitry involving the orbital frontal
cortex, caudate nucleus, thalamus, and anterior cingulate
gyrus in the pathophysiology of OCD (e.g., Saxena
& Rauch, 2000), fear circuitry involving the amygdala,
hippocampus, and certain prefrontal cortical structures
are thought to be operative for most anxiety disorders
(e.g., Kent & Rauch, 2004; Mataix-Cols & van den
Heuvel, 2006). Finally, neuropsychopharmacological
models point to the unique characteristics of OCD
(Rosenberg, Russell, & Fougere, 2005). In particular,
although OCD and the other anxiety disorders share
treatment responsiveness to SRI medication, the selective
efficacy of other medication classes (e.g., benzodiazepines
and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors) for all
of the anxiety disorders except OCD raises further questions
regarding the shared etiology of these disorders
(Bartz & Hollander, 2006).
A thorough review of the aforementioned literature is
beyond the scope of this article (see McCracken, 2005;
Rosenberg et al., 2005). However, taken together, findings
from multiple strands of research provide compelling
evidence that OCD is distinct from other anxiety
disorders, and they argue for an examination of psychosocial
treatments that is separate from these other
conditions. Certainly, this line of approach is not new.
Indeed, the value of considering OCD as distinct from
other forms of anxiety has been underscored by existing
psychosocial and psychopharmacological treatment
studies that have considered OCD separately, while
grouping other youth anxiety disorders (e.g., social
anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, and generalized
anxiety disorder) together within the same trial
(e.g., Barrett, Dadds, & Rapee, 1996; Kendall et al.,
1997; The Research Units on Pediatric Psychopharmacology
Anxiety Study Group, 2001).
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THEORETICAL FOUNDATION
FOR TREATMENT
A number of theories have been put forward to account
for the development and maintenance of OCD. Early
behavioural theories (Dollard & Miller, 1950) emphasized
fear and avoidance conditioning models wherein
neutral stimuli are paired with naturally anxiety provoking
events and subsequently come to elicit distress themselves.
Fear is then maintained by the negative
reinforcement provided by escape or avoidance behaviors
(i.e., compulsions). Cognitive behavioral accounts
have expanded on these ideas to emphasize faulty cognitive
appraisals and, in particular, tendencies toward
distorted risk appraisal, inflated sense of responsibility
for harm, excessive self-doubt, and thought-action
fusion (i.e., thinking of a harmful act is the same as
actually doing it) that appear to be central to OCD
(Salkovskis, 1996). These theoretical models have provided
the foundation for the bulk of psychosocial treatment
development and research for both youth and
adults with OCD and as such, have argued for primarily
cognitive behavioural intervention approaches. Indeed,
the vast majority of extant psychosocial treatment literature
has employed some variant of CBT.
Current psychosocial treatments for OCD and the
other anxiety disorders are largely similar in terms of
their reliance on exposure and cognitive restructuring.
At the same time, the relative emphasis on techniques
is distinct for OCD, with exposure and response prevention
(ERP) representing a cornerstone of effective treatment.
ERP involves exposing patients to stimuli that
trigger obsessive fears while encouraging them to resist
engaging in compulsive behaviors invoked to reduce
the obsession-triggered distress (Foa & Kozak, 1986;
Meyer, 1966). The most commonly proposed
mechanism for ERP efficacy is that, over repeated exposures,
obsession-triggered anxiety dissipates through
the process of autonomic habituation. In addition, as
the individual’s fears dissipate, she or he comes to learn
that the feared consequences of not ritualizing will not
materialize. As noted, cognitive factors such as inflated
sense of responsibility for harm, excessive self-doubt,
and thought-action fusion have been implicated as
important etiological and maintaining factors for OCD
in adults (Salkovkis, 1996). The extent to which these
factors are specific to, or even applicable to, child and
adolescent OCD remains unclear (Barrett & Healy,
2003; Barrett & Healy-Farrell, 2003). Despite this limited
empirical support, cognitive techniques directly
addressing obsessional beliefs and=or aimed at enhancing
compliance with ERP are included routinely in interventions
for young people with OCD (e.g., Kearney &
Silverman, 1990; see Piacentini, March, & Franklin,
2006; Soechting & March, 2002).
REVIEW OF THE PSYCHOSOCIAL
TREATMENT LITERATURE FOR CHILD
AND ADOLESCENT OCD
In an effort to present a thorough account of the current
state of the psychosocial treatment literature for child
and adolescent OCD, this review begins with a narrative
description of the specific studies composing this literature.
Where possible and to the extent feasible based on
the actual source articles, we provide information on
sample demographics that may influence generalization
of findings to diverse populations. As noted, all of the
child and adolescent OCD psychosocial treatments
tested to date have been based on exposure plus
response prevention delivered in either individual or
group format and in the presence or absence of an
adjunctive family-based (typically, parent) intervention.
In addition, almost all have included some form of cognitive
intervention either to address obsessional thinking
directly or to enhance compliance with ERP. Relative to
the other child and adolescent treatment research areas
that are covered in this special issue, the number of
controlled youth OCD psychosocial trials published to
date is small (N ¼ 4). Because we wish to provide an
overview of the status of the extant literature while also
offering conclusions regarding the efficacy of various
treatment approaches, we have therefore also included
uncontrolled trials in our review (e.g., Abramowitz,
Whiteside, & Deacon, 2005).
At the same time, to reflect the effects of including
less methodologically rigorous trials, each study has
been classified using the scheme developed by Nathan
and Gorman (2002). According to this scheme, Type 1
studies describe the most rigorous scientific evaluations,
involving randomized, prospective clinical trials, including
comparison groups, blinded assessments, inclusion
and exclusion criteria, state-of-the-art diagnostic methods,
adequate sample size, and clearly described statistical
methods. Type 2 studies are clinical trials in which an
intervention is made but some aspects of the Type 1
study requirement are missing—for example, a trial in
which two treatments are compared but assignment is
not randomized. Type 3 studies are clearly methodologically
limited, in that they generally are open trials aimed
at obtaining pilot data. These studies are largely subject
to observer bias. Type 4 and 5 studies include reviews
with (Type 4) or without (Type 5) secondary data analysis,
whereas Type 6 classification refers to reports of
marginal value such as single case reports, essays, and
opinion papers. Only studies meeting the criteria for a
Type 1, Type 2, or Type 3 study were included in the
present review. Initial Nathan and Gorman (2002)
classification of studies for this review was conducted
by the first author. These classifications then were
reviewed by the remaining authors and discussed and
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refined by all authors using a consensus approach.
Because rates of agreement were not tracked formally,
specific reliability estimates for this classification
approach are not available.
In addition to using the Nathan and Gorman (2002)
criteria, the published interventions for child and
adolescent OCD also are evaluated relative to criteria
for well-established, probably efficacious, possibly efficacious,
and experimental treatments (based on criteria
suggested by Chambless et al., 1998; Chambless et al.,
1996; and Chambless & Hollon, 1998). According to this
system, designation as well-established requires (a) at
least two ‘‘good’’ group-design studies from different
investigative teams showing the treatment to be superior
to pill placebo or alternate treatment or equivalent to an
already established treatment in studies with adequate
statistical power, and (b) treatment manuals, clearly
specified patient populations, psychometrically sound
assessment measures, and appropriate statistical analyses.
Probably efficacious denotes interventions
(a) shown as more effective than no-treatment (or waitlist)
control in two ‘‘good’’ studies, or (b) with one or
more ‘‘good’’ studies meeting the requirements for
well-established treatment classification except for
having been done in separate research settings or by separate
research teams. Designation as possibly efficacious
requires the presence of at least one ‘‘good’’ study demonstrating
the intervention to be efficacious in the
absence of evidence to the contrary. Finally, treatments
that have yet to be evaluated in methodologically rigorous
trials are deemed experimental treatments. For purposes
of this review, a ‘‘good’’ group design experiment
was operationally defined as one that met the criteria for
Type 1 classification as set forward by Nathan and
Gorman.
SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE-BASED
PSYCHOSOCIAL INTERVENTION STUDIES
FOR CHILD AND ADOLESCENT OCD
Potential studies for this review were identified through
a number of sources, including searches of the
PsycINFO and Medline databases (keywords: OCD or
obsessive, exposure or behavior therapy or cognitivebehavior
therapy, and child or adolescent or pediatric
obsessive–compulsive disorder), examination of review
articles and past treatment studies on this topic, and
consultation with investigators working in this area.
Only studies published since 1994, the date of the first
published child OCD treatment study utilizing standardized
treatment protocols (as noted in March 1995),
were considered. Our search produced 50 peer-reviewed
articles, 21 of which were potential Type 1, 2, or 3
psychosocial treatment studies written in English,
involving children and adolescents with OCD, and
including more than 1 participant. Three studies were
classified as Type 1 (Barrett, Healy-Farrell, & March,
2004; Grunes, Neziroglu, & McKay, 2001; and Pediatric
OCD Treatment Study [POTS] Team, 2004). Four were
identified as Type 2 (Asbahr et al., 2005; de Haan,
Hoogduin, Buitelaar, & Keijsers, 1998; Franklin et al.,
1998; Storch et al., 2007). Fourteen were identified as
Type 3, 10 of which examined individual CBT (ICBT;
Benazon, Ager, & Rosenberg, 2002; Knox, Albano, &
Barlow, 1996; March, Mulle & Herbel, 1994; Piacentini,
Gitow, Jaffer, Graae, & Whitaker, 1994; Piacentini,
Bergman, Jacobs, McCracken, & Kretchman, 2002;
Scahill, Vitulano, Brenner, Lynch, & King, 1996; Storch
et al., 2006; Valderhaug, Larsson, Go¨ttestam, &
Piacentini, 2007; Waters, Barrett & March, 2001; Wever
& Rey, 1997), and 4 of which centered on groupadministered
CBT (Fischer, Himle, & Hanna, 1998;
Himle, Fischer, Van Etten, Janeck, & Hanna, 2003;
Martin & Thienemann, 2005; Thienemann, Martin,
Cregger, Thompson, & Dyer-Friedman, 2001).
After careful examination, 2 of the 3 Type 1, all 4 of
the Type 2, and 10 of the 14 Type 3 (7 individual and
3 group treatment) studies were retained for inclusion
in this review. Before describing the studies retained
for review, a note about the excluded studies is
warranted. Briefly, Grunes et al. (2001), a comparison
of ERP alone to ERP plus a family component, included
only 6 individuals younger than 18 in a total sample of
28 individuals and did not report treatment response for
these youths separately. Given that it was not possible to
draw conclusions about the efficacy of the study treatments
for childhood OCD from this investigation, this
Type 1 study was not considered for further review.
The primary reason for excluding three of the Type 3
ICBT trials (Knox et al., 1996; Piacentini et al., 1994;
Wever & Rey, 1997) was small sample size (all
Ns < 4). Notably, although Wever and Rey treated 57
children and adolescents in their study comparing
CBT, medication, and combined treatment, only 3 of
these youngsters received CBT only, thereby precluding
interpretation of study findings. The fourth excluded
Type 3 study, Fischer et al. (1998), served as an interim
report of the Himle et al. (2003) group CBT (GCBT)
study described later in this article and was eliminated
to avoid inflating the literature through double counting
of study participants.
For the studies retained for inclusion in this review,
within each study category, we made a further distinction
between individual-child and family-focused CBT
interventions. Recognizing that family involvement in
OCD treatment varies substantially across studies in
terms of type, intensity, and level of standardization,
this distinction was based primarily on the degree of
family involvement reported across trials. Child and
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adolescent treatment necessarily involves some degree of
parental involvement; thus, for the purpose of our
review, interventions calling for regular check-in with
parents at the end of each session or during specific parent-
designated sessions were still considered individual
treatments. This approach is in keeping with the convention
used in the non-OCD anxiety literature. For
example, the widely used Coping Cat intervention
(Kendall, 1994) is considered an individual child treatment
even though it specifies two specific parent sessions
plus additional parental involvement as needed. By
contrast, interventions for non-OCD anxiety including
separate regular standardized parent sessions occurring
in parallel to the child treatment are considered family-
based (e.g., Barrett et al., 1996; Cobham, Dadds, &
Spence, 1998). Notably, the term family-focused typically
has been used to indicate systematized parent
involvement in child treatment (e.g., Storch et al.,
2007; Waters et al., 2001); few studies have included systematic
intervention with parents and siblings (e.g.,
Barrett, Healy-Farrell, &March, 2004). Evaluative summaries
are provided next for each of the studies retained
for inclusion in this review. We begin by describing the
most methodologically robust studies (Type 1) and then
provide a review of the studies classified as Type 2 and 3
(based on Nathan and Gorman’s criteria); we conclude
with comments on the overall limitations of this body
of work.
REVIEW OF TYPE 1 (RANDOMIZED
CONTROLLED) STUDIES
As noted, two randomized controlled psychosocial
outcome studies for children and=or adolescents with
OCD (Barrett, Healy-Farrell, & March, 2004; POTS
Team, 2004) met criteria for consideration as Nathan
and Gorman (2002) criteria for Type 1 studies based
on their design features, which included random assignment,
blind assessment, clear description of eligibility
criteria, sufficient statistical power, and state-of-the-art
assessment and data analytic methods. One of these
trials included a medication condition (POTS Team,
2004) and one (Barrett, Healy-Farrell, & March, 2004)
compared ICBT and GCBT (both of which included a
standardized family component) to a waitlist control
condition (see Table 1).
Barrett and colleagues (2004) provided the first controlled
comparison of family-focused individual versus
family-focused group CBT for child and adolescent
OCD. Both treatment conditions, which were contrasted
against a waitlist control group, included a standardized
family component, ‘‘Freedom From Obsessions and
Compulsions Using Cognitive-Behavioural Strategies’’
(FOCUS; Barrett, 2007). Adapted from the March
et al. individual treatment protocol (March & Mulle,
1998; March et al., 1994), the FOCUS program includes
a structured parent and sibling protocol and allows both
individual and group treatment delivery. The sample
consisted of 77 youth ages 7 to 17 (M age ¼ 11.7 years)
with a primary diagnosis of OCD who either were medication
free or agreed to maintain a stable medication
regimen over the course of the study. Treatment integrity
checks were also employed, along with assessment
of participant and parent satisfaction with treatment.
After active treatment, two booster sessions were
conducted at 1 and 3 months posttreatment to provide
further support to participants.
Treatment led to a 65% mean reduction on the
Children’s Yale–Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale
(CY-BOCS; Scahill et al., 1997), the gold standard clinician-
rated severity measure for OCD, for participants
in family-focused ICBT and a 61% mean reduction
for family-focused GCBT. In addition, 88% of youth
involved in the individual condition were diagnosis free
at the completion of treatment, as were 76% of participants
in the group condition. All youngsters in the
waitlist condition continued to meet criteria for OCD
at postassessment, although the relatively short duration
of the waitlist condition (4–6 weeks) potentially limits
the utility of comparisons between the active and
no-treatment groups. There were no significant differences
between treatment conditions, indicating that
individual- and group-based treatments were equally
effective at providing positive outcomes. These treatment
outcome results were maintained at 3 and 6-month
follow-up assessment, with no significant treatment condition
differences evident at either follow-up point.
In a follow-up study, Barrett, Farrell, Dadds, and
Boulter (2005) evaluated the long-term durability of
family-focused ICBT and GCBT and investigated
potential pretreatment predictors of long-term outcome.
This study involved 48 participants ages 8 to 19 years
who had received either family-focused ICBT or GCBT
in the original study (90% of the original active treatment
sample). Participants and parents were assessed
at 12 and 18 months following treatment with standardized
assessments, including diagnostic and symptom
severity interviews, child self-report measures of anxiety
and depression, and parental self-report of distress.
Analyses indicated treatment gains were maintained
for all participants, with 70% of participants in individual
therapy and 84% in group therapy diagnosis free at
follow-up. There were no significant differences between
the individual or group conditions across measures.
Results indicated that higher pretreatment CY-BOCS
symptom severity scores and higher family dysfunction
reported by mothers and fathers (measured by the
Family Adjustment Device) predicted worse long-term
outcome. These findings suggest that family-focused
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TABLE 1
Description of Type 1
Study Sample Treatment(s) Design Elements
ICBT
POTS Team (2004) N ¼ 112 Age 7–17 50% female
Ethnicity: NR Inc: OCD dx,
CY-BOCS > 15, NIMH > 7,
IQ > 80 Exc: MDD=bipolar,
PDD, psychosis, primary TS,
concurrent meds or therapy, 2
prior failed SRI or 1 failed CBT
trials for OCD
ICBT–12 weeks (N ¼ 28)
Sertraline–12 weeks (N ¼ 28)
Combined tx–12 weeks
(N ¼ 28) Pill Placebo–12 weeks
(N ¼ 28)
CBT based on March & Mulle
(1998); 3 family sessions plus
additional involvement as
needed
þoutpatient setting (3
sites)þmanualized
protocolþsample eligibiltity
characterized
ICBTþFamily GCBTþFamily
Barrett, Healy-Farrell, & March
(2004)
N ¼ 77 Age 7–17 51% female
Ethnicity: NR Inc: primary
OCD Exc: TS, autism, MR,
psychosis, organicity; stable
meds ok
ICBTþFamily–14 weeks (N ¼ 24)
GCBTþFamily–14 weeks
(N ¼ 29) Waitlist – 4–6 weeks
(N ¼ 24)
CBT based on March & Mulle
(1998); Family tx: 14 group
sessions for parents; 3 for
siblings
þoutpatient settingþmanualized
protocolþsample eligibiltity
characterized
Note: ICBT ¼ individual cognitive behavioral therapy; POTS ¼ Pediatric OCD Treatment Study; NR ¼ not reported; OCD ¼ obsessive–
of Mental Health Global Scale (Murphy, Pickar, & Alterman, 1982); MDD ¼ Major Depressive Disorder; PDD ¼ Pervasive
COM ¼ Combination Treatment; PBO ¼ Placebo; MR ¼ Mental Retardation; ADIS–C ¼ Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM–IV
Children (March et al., 1997); FAD ¼ McMaster Family Assessment Device (Epstein et al., 1983); DASS ¼ Depression Anxiety Stress Scale
Inc ¼ Inclusion Criteria; Exc ¼ Exclusion Criteria.
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Studies Included in Review
Measures (Informant) Results Effect Size Follow-Up
OCD: CY-BOCS CYBOCS: 46%#for CBT,
30%# SER, 53%#COM,
15%#PBO;
COM > CBT ¼ SER > PBO
Remission (posttreatment CYBOCS

10): 39% for CBT,
21% for SER, 54% for COM,
4% for PBO; COM ¼ CBT,
>SER, > PBO; CBT ¼ SER,
>PBO; SER ¼ PBO
Within-group
CBTCYBOCS ¼ 2.61
SERCYBOCS ¼ 1.49
COMCYBOCS ¼ 4.20
PBOCYBOCS ¼ 1.12
Between-group
CBT-PBOCYBOCS ¼ .99
SER-PBOCYBOCS ¼ .68
COM-PBOCYBOCS ¼ 1.46
COM-CBTCYBOCS ¼ .31
COM-SERCYBOCS ¼ .61
CBT-SERCYBOCS ¼ .27
No follow-up data
OCD: ADIS-C (P) CY-BOCS (C)
NIMH (C)
OTHER: CDI (C) MASC (C)
FAD (M,F) DASS (M,F)
Sibling CDI, MASC, SAS
ADIS-C: 88% ICBT, 76% GCBT,
0% WL no Wk 14 OCD dx;
ICBT ¼ GCBT > WL
CY-BOCS: 65%# for ICBT,
61%#GCBT, 5%”WL;
ICBT ¼ GCBT > WL
NIMH: 60%# for ICBT,
63%#GCBT, 4%” WL;
ICBT ¼ GCBT > WL.
No group differences on other
measures. Age and med status
not related to outcome
Within-group
ICBTCYBOCS ¼ 3.27
GCBT CYBOCS ¼ 4.03
WL CYBOCS¼ 0.18
Between-group
ICBT-WLCYBOCS ¼ 2.84
GCBT-WLCYBOCS ¼ 2.63
GCBT-ICBTCYBOCS ¼ .01
ICBT-WLNIMH ¼ 2.61
GCBT-WLNIMH ¼ 2.78
GCBT-ICBTNIMH ¼ .09
ICBT-WLMASC ¼ .06
GCBT-WLMASC ¼ .60
GCBT-ICBTMASC ¼ .66
ICBT-WLCDI ¼ .27
GCBT-WLCDI ¼ .82
GCBT-ICBTCDI ¼ .52
Treatment gains maintained
over 6 month follow-up.
18-month follow-up of 90%
of active treatment groups
found all participants to
have maintained posttreatment
gains with 70%
of individual and 84% of
group CBT participants
diagnosis free (Barrett
et al., 2005)
compulsive disorder; CY-BOCS ¼ Children’s Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Scahill et al., 1997); NIMH ¼ National Institute
Developmental Disorder; TS ¼ Tourette’s Syndrome; SRI ¼ serotonin reuptake inhibitors; CBT ¼ cognitive behavioral therapy; SER ¼ Sertraline;
Child Version (Silverman & Albano, 1996); CDI ¼ Children’s Depression Inventory (Kovacs, 1992); MASC ¼ Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for
(Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995); SAS ¼ Sibling Accommodation Scale (Calvocoressi et al., 1995); WL ¼ Wait List; Wk ¼ Week; dx ¼ diagnosis;
TREATMENTS FOR CHILDHOOD OCD 137
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TABLE 2
Description of Type 2
Study Sample Treatment(s) Design Elements
ICBT
de Haan et al. (1998) N ¼ 22 Age 8–18 yrs 50% female
Ethnicity: NR Inc: primary OCD
Exc: TS, autism, MR, psychosis,
organicity, primary MDD; BT or
SRI meds past 6 mos
ICBT–12 sessions; family
involvement not specified
(n ¼ 12)
Clomipramine–12 weeks (m
dose ¼ 2.5mg=kg) (N ¼ 10)
Outpatient Setting
þoutpatient settingþmanualized
protocolþsample eligibiltity
characterized
Franklin et al. (1998) N ¼ 14 10–17 yrs 71% female
Ethnicity: NR Inc: primary
OCD Exc: severe comorbid
developmental disability 71%
on concurrent SRI treatment
WT (M ¼ 16 sessions over 4
months; N ¼ 7)
IT (M ¼ 18 sessions over 1 month;
N ¼ 7), nonrandom assignment
þoutpatient setting (weekly and
intensive treatment)þprotocol
drivenþcompared medication
status and treatment intensity–
sample eligibiltity not fully
specified
ICBTþFamily
Storch et al. (2007) N ¼ 40 7–17 yrs 55% female
Ethnicity: 93% Caucasian Inc:
primary diagnosis of OCD, CYBOCS
16 Exc: psychosis,
pervasive developmental
disorder, bipolar disorder,
current suicidality 60% on
concurrent SRI treatment
14 sessions of weekly (WT; N ¼ 20)
or intensive (daily; IT; N ¼ 20)
treatment 1 parent present for
every session Random
assignment
þoutpatient settingþprotocol
driven  conditions differ in age
and baseline symptom
severity  limited interrater
reliability on CYBOCS
 follow-up not
conducted on all participants
GCBT
Asbahr et al. (2005) N ¼ 40 Age 9–17 yrs 35% female
Ethnicity: Latino Inc: primary
OCD, treatment-naı¨ve,
NIMH > 7 Exc: primary MDD
or ADHD, bipolar, PDD,
PTSD, borderline PD,
neurological disorder other than
TS, autism, psychosis,
organicity
GCBT–12 wks (N ¼ 20)
Sertraline–12 wks (N ¼ 20)
CBT based on March & Mulle
(1998); 1 family session plus
parent attended final 15 min of
each session
þoutpatient settingþmanualized
protocolþsample eligibiltity
characterized
Note: ICBT¼ individual cognitive behavioral therapy; yrs ¼ years; Inc ¼ Inclusion Criteria; Exc ¼ Exclusion Criteria; NR ¼ not reported;
reuptake inhibitors; CY-BOCS ¼ Children’s Yale–Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Scahill et al., 1997); LOI–C ¼ Leyton Obsessional
CBCL ¼ Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach, 1991); CMI ¼ Clomipramine; CBT ¼ cognitive behavioral therapy; WT ¼ weekly treatment;
1976); COIS–P ¼ Children’s Obsessive Compulsive Impact scale–Parent Report (Piacentini et al., 2003); CDI ¼ Children’s Depression
for Children (March et al., 1997); NIMH ¼ National Institute of Mental Health Global Scale (Murphy, Pickar, & Alterman, 1982);
Personality Disorder; GCBT ¼ group cognitive behavioral therapy; CGAS ¼ Children’s Global Assessment Scale (Shaffer et al., 1983);
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Studies Included in Review
Outcome Measures Results Effect Size Follow-Up
OCD: CY-BOCS LOI (C)
OTHER: CDS (C) CBCL (P)
CY-BOCS: 60%#, 66% response
rate for ICBT; 33%#, 50%
response rate for CMI;
ICBT > CMI
No group differences on other
measures
Within-group
CBTCYBOCS ¼ 1.58
CMICYBOCS ¼ 1.45
Between-group
CBT-CMI CYBOCS ¼ .86
CBT-CMILOI ¼ .51
CBT-CMICDS ¼ .32
CBT-CMICBCL ¼ .27
2 CBT nonresponders exhibited
positive response following
continued treatment
OCD: CY-BOCS Main Fear
Main Ritual
OTHER: HDRS
86% participants50%# on
CY-BOCS at posttreatment
WT: 64%# CYBOCS IT: 70%#
CYBOCS
Significant reduction in severity of
‘‘main fear’’ and ‘‘main ritual’’
No significant impact on depressive
symptoms (HDRS)
CY-BOCS
WEEKLYPRE-POST ¼ 2.48
INTENSIVEPRE-POST ¼ 3.57
CBT-ONLYPRE-POST ¼ 4.32
CBTþMEDSPRE-POST ¼ 2.29
HDRSPRE-POST ¼ .20
10 of 12 available Ss were
responders at 9-month followup
OCD: CY-BOCS CGI-S
COIS-P FAS
OTHER: CDI MASC
IT: 75% remission 90% response
(CGI-I < 2) WT: 50%
remission 5% response
(CGI-I < 2)
CY-BOCS
WEEKLYPRE-POST ¼ 1.73
INTENSIVEPRE-POST ¼ 2.62
CGI-S
WEEKLYPRE-POST ¼ 2.44
INTENSIVEPRE-POST ¼ 3.11
COIS-P
WEEKLYPRE-POST ¼ 0.57
INTENSIVEPRE-POST ¼ 1.89
FAS
WEEKLYPRE-POST ¼ 0.32
INTENSIVEPRE-POST ¼ 1.24
No group differences at 3-month
follow-up Follow-up data for
80% of total sample
OCD: CY-BOCS
NIMH CGI-S CGAS
OTHER: CDI (C) MASC (C)
Both treatment groups showed
significant improvement on the
CY-BOCS, NIMH, CGI, and
CGAS
Only the SER group had significant
decrease on CDI and
neither treatment group demonstrated
significant improvement
on the MASC
Insufficient data to calculate 9 month follow-up
5% (1=19) relapse in CBT vs. 53%
(10=18) in SER following treatment
discontinuation
OCD ¼ obsessive–compulsive disorder; TS ¼ Tourette’s Syndrome; MR ¼ Mental Retardation; MDD ¼ Major Depressive Disorder; SRI ¼ serotonin
Inventory–Child Version (Berg, Rapoport, & Flament, 1986); CDS ¼ Children’s Depression Scale (Lang & Tisher, 1978; Luteijn, 1981);
IT ¼ intensive treatment; HDRS ¼ Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (Hamilton, 1960); CGI–S ¼ Clinical Global Impressions–Severity rating (Guy,
Inventory (Kovacs, 1992); FAS ¼ Family Accommodation Scale (Calvocoressi et al., 1995); MASC ¼ Multidimensional Anxiety Scale
ADHD ¼ attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; PDD ¼ Pervasive Developmental Disorder; PTSD ¼ posttraumatic stress disorder; PD ¼
SER ¼ Sertraline.
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CBT for OCD provides long-term symptom relief, and
at present there is no evidence for significant differential
effects for using CBT in either individual or group-based
therapy formats. Notably, whereas the results for ICBT
in the Barrett, Healy-Farrell, & March, (2004) trial
are similar to those reported in the Type 2 and 3 trials
(described next), the effect size for GCBT was considerably
larger than those reported in the less
methodologically rigorous studies described later in this
review.
The POTS study (POTS Team, 2004) represents the
first randomized controlled comparison of CBT, psychopharmacological
treatment, their combination, and
pill placebo for children and adolescents with OCD.
The POTS study randomized 112 patients with OCD
ages 7 through 17 years (M age ¼ 11.7 years) recruited
from three academic centers in the United States: Duke
University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Brown
University. Participants were randomly assigned to
one of four conditions: ICBT alone, sertraline (a selective
SRI, or SSRI) alone, combined ICBT and sertraline,
or pill placebo for 12 weeks. Participants were seen
weekly for medication adjustment based on an increasing
dosage schedule, from 25 mg=d to a maximum of
200 mg=d over 6 weeks (POTS Team, 2004). To ensure
a sample representative of treatment-seeking clients
within the general community, inclusion and exclusion
criteria were intentionally broad. Exclusion criteria
involved the presence of primary major depression
and=or Tourette’s disorder, any pervasive developmental
disorder, psychosis, concurrent treatment of OCD
outside of the study, two previous failed attempts with
an SRI medication or one failed CBT trial, any medical
or neurological disorder, and pregnancy. Comorbid
anxiety and=or externalizing disorders were allowed
but could not be primary. The manualized CBT protocol
was adapted from March and Mulle (1998) and consisted
of 14 sessions conducted over 12 weeks, involving
psychoeducation, cognitive training, symptom mapping,
exposure and response prevention, and three parent
sessions plus additional parent involvement as needed.
Posttreatment results indicated that all active treatments
were significantly superior to the placebo condition
in reducing OCD severity as measured by the
CY-BOCS. On dimensional analyses of symptom severity,
combined treatment (CBTþSSRI) proved to be
superior to either CBT or SSRI alone, which did not
differ from one another. However, when clinical
remission (i.e., ‘‘excellent response’’ as indicated by
posttreatment CY-BOCS
10) was used as the primary
outcome measure, a significant advantage was found for
the two CBT conditions, with the following response
rates emerging: combination, 53.6%; CBT only, 39%;
SSRI only, 21%; placebo, 3%. For these analyses, the
combined condition did not differ from CBT alone;
however, the combined treatment was superior to SSRI
alone and to the placebo condition. The CBT alone
condition did not significantly differ from the SSRI
alone but did differ significantly from the placebo,
whereas the SSRI treatment alone did not. Notably,
study results were tempered by a significant Site Treatment interaction, in which CBT alone was equivalent
to combined treatment at one study site but not the
other. The study authors interpreted this finding to indicate
that under certain circumstances, optimal CBT may
preclude the need for medication augmentation (POTS
Team, 2004). Although the pattern of findings varied
across different sets of analyses and is no doubt complicated
by issues of sample size and power, findings from
the POTS trial provide persuasive evidence for the
efficacy of CBT, either alone or in conjunction with
SSRI treatment.
REVIEW OF TYPE 2 TREATMENT STUDIES
The four Type 2 studies included in this review were
classified as such because their designs were considered
more rigorous than standard Type 3 trials but less stringent
than those employed in Type 1 studies (see Table 2).
Two studies (Franklin et al., 1998; Storch et al., 2007)
examined ICBT delivered with different dose intensities
and did not include a no-treatment or alternative treatment
comparison condition, thus limiting their contribution
to the evaluation of exposure-based CBT as, for
example, either a well-established or probably efficacious
treatment (Chambless et al., 1998; Chambless & Hollon,
1998; Chambless et al., 1996). Two additional studies
were randomized controlled trials comparing CBT to
pharmacotherapy (Asbahr et al., 2005; de Haan et al.,
1998) that met the criteria for Type 2 (vs. Type 1) classification
because they used a small sample size (de Haan
et al., 1998) or lacked sufficient statistical detail to allow
interpretation of study findings (Asbahr et al., 2005).
Franklin and colleagues (1998) conducted an open
trial of CBT with 14 Caucasian youth (M age ¼ 14.0
years, range ¼ 10–17 years). A primary aim of the study
was to determine whether a CBT intervention that omitted
anxiety management techniques and instead relied on
ERP as the central treatment strategy would be
efficacious in treating youth with OCD. In addition, the
study assessed whether treatment intensity (intensive vs.
weekly) was related to treatment outcome. To examine
this issue, half of the participants took part in intensive
treatment, which involved an average of 18 sessions delivered
over the course of 1 month. The other half received
an average of 16 sessions over a span of 4 months. As
noted earlier, assignment to treatment condition was
not random but based on practical considerations
specific to each participant. Of the 14 participants,
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6 received CBT alone, and 8 received CBT while being
continued on medication for OCD that was initiated
prior to study entry. Following treatment, there was a
mean reduction of 67% in CY-BOCS scores, with 12 of
14 participants showing at least 50% improvement in
CY-BOCS symptom severity ratings. These improvements
were maintained to 9-month follow-up assessment.
Critically, outcomes did not vary by treatment intensity,
and youth who received CBT alone fared equally as well
as children concurrently taking medication.
More recently, Storch et al. (2007) compared the
efficacy of intensive versus weekly individual familybased
CBT for 40 children and adolescents with a
primary diagnosis of OCD (M age ¼ 13.3 years,
range ¼ 7–17 years). Treatment was delivered in a family-
based format that required at least one parent to
attend each session. In the intensive treatment arm, 14
sessions were conducted daily for 3 weeks; in the alternate
treatment arm, sessions were held weekly for 14
weeks. Both treatments relied on the manual by Lewin,
Storch, Merlo, Murphy, and Geffken (2005), with
modifications designed to allow for greater parental psychoeducation
and to facilitate the parental coaching during
homework exercises. A standardized assessment
battery was conducted pretreatment, posttreatment,
and at 3-month follow-up, although posttreatment
assessments were not done blind to treatment condition.
Notably, despite a blinded randomization procedure, the
intensive treatment group was significantly younger and
had more severe OCD than the weekly treatment group.
Following treatment, illness remission (defined as a
CY-BOCS total score of 10 or less) was achieved for
75% of participants in the intensive treatment and
50% in the weekly group. On the Clinical Global
Improvement Scale, 90% of the intensive treatment
completers were deemed treatment responders compared
to 65% in the weekly treatment arm. Both groups
evidenced a significant and similar improvement in
psychosocial functioning and a significant decrease,
although more so in the intensive versus weekly condition,
in family accommodation of OCD symptoms.
Although these findings suggest an initial advantage of
intensive treatment over weekly treatment, the two
treatment conditions demonstrated similar outcomes at
3-months posttreatment completion, a finding which
suggests that youth who receive intensive treatment
may continue to need additional clinical care.
In the first randomized controlled examination of
CBT for child and adolescent OCD, de Haan et al.
(1998) compared 12 weeks of ERP to 12 weeks of open
treatment with clomipramine for 22 youth ages 8 to 18
years (M age ¼ 13.7 years). Eligibility criteria included
a primary diagnosis of OCD established on the basis
of an unspecified semistructured interview and developmental
history and the absence of a psychotic disorder,
Tourette’s disorder, pervasive developmental delay,
mental retardation, or primary major depressive
disorder. A standardized assessment protocol revealed
significant improvement for both CBT and medication
at posttreatment, although CBT led to a significantly
greater decrease in CY-BOCS scores over time than
pharmacotherapy (59.9% vs. 33.4%; dbetween group ¼ 0.86.1 Nonresponders at 12 weeks were then treated
openly with a combination of medication and CBT
and evidenced a 55% response at 3-month follow-up.
Although constrained by small sample size, these findings
bolster support for the use of CBT as a frontline
treatment for youth with OCD and point to its potential
benefit over SRI treatment.
Asbahr et al. (2005) compared GCBT to sertraline in
a randomized trial of 40 treatment naı¨ve youth ages 9 to
17 years (M age ¼ 13.05 years). Similar to Barrett,
Healy-Farrell, & March, (2004), the GCBT format in
this study was an adaptation of March and Mulle’s
(1998) treatment manual. A comprehensive standardized
assessment battery was employed to assess participants
at multiple time-points including pre- and
posttreatment and 1, 2, 3, 6, and 9 months posttreatment.
Consistent with de Haan et al. (1998), participants
in both the psychosocial and medication conditions
demonstrated significant improvement on the CYBOCS
at the end of treatment. Secondary measures of
anxiety and depression also decreased over the course
of treatment, with no group differences reported.
However, at 9-month follow-up, youth in the GCBT
condition reported significantly lower rates of symptoms
compared to youth treated with sertraline. Although
the Asbahr et al. (2005) article did not provide
sufficient detail to allow determination of effect sizes
for either treatment, the authors described their
findings as convergent with those of Barrett, Healy-
Farrell, & March, (2004) in demonstrating the
efficacy of CBT delivered in group format and as providing
further support for the potential long-term
superiority of psychosocial versus psychopharmacological
approaches.
REVIEW OF TYPE 3 (UNCONTROLLED)
STUDIES
Collectively, the retained Type 3 treatment studies
(Benazon et al., 2002; Himle et al., 2003; March et al.,
1Following Cohen (1988), between group effect sizes were
calculated as follows:
d ¼ ð
xt 
xcÞ=
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffififfiffiffi
ðnt  1Þs2t
þ ðnc  1Þs2c
nt þ nc
s
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TABLE 3
Description of Type 3
Study Sample Treatment(s) Design Elements
ICBT
March, Mulle & Herbel (1994) N ¼ 15 8–18 yrs 67% female
Ethnicity: NR Inc: primary
OCD, Exc: not specified 93%
on concurrent SSRI treatment
that varied for some
M ¼ 10 sessions (range 3–21)
Treatment included Anxiety
Management Component
(AMT) including relaxation,
self-talk, and other coping
strategies
þoutpatient settingþprotocol
driven  sample eligibiltity not
fully specified
Scahill et al. (1996) N ¼ 7 9–16 yrs 71% female
Ethnicity: NR Inc: moderately
severe OCD Exc: not specified
71% on concurrent SRI
treatment
M ¼ 15 sessions
Separate therapist for child and
parent components of treatment
þoutpatient settingþprotocol
driven  sample eligibiltity not
fully specified
Benazon, Ager, & Rosenberg
(2002)
N ¼ 16 8–17 years 50% female
Ethnicity: 100% Caucasian
Inc: OCD diagnosis, CYBOCS
> 16, Exc: bipolar or
unipolar depression, tic
disorder, conduct disorder,
learning disorder, psychosis,
MR, autism, seizure disorder
history, contraindicated medical
condition, any concomitant
treatment, substance abuse past
6 mos, significant
suicide=homicide risk
M ¼ 12 sessions
Treatment based on March &
Mulle (1998) and Schwartz’s
(1996) Four Steps Program
Four parent sessions
þoutpatient settingþprotocol
drivenþsample eligibiltity
characterized
Piacentini et al. (2002) N ¼ 42 5–17 yrs 60% female
Ethnicity: NR Inc: primary
OCD diagnosis Exc: not
specified
52% on concurrent medication
M ¼ 12.5 sessions
All families attended first two
sessions with subsequent
involvement depending on
specifics of case. Most families
attended multiple additional
sessions
þoutpatient settingþprotocol
drivenþlarge sample
sizeþexamined predictors of
response  sample eligibility not
fully specified  CY-BOCS not
used at outcome
ICBTþFamily
Waters, Barrett & March (2001) N ¼ 7 10–14 yrs 57% female
Ethnicity: NR Inc: primary
OCD, CGAS < 70 Exc: primary
MDD or other anxiety disorder,
TS, schizophrenia, MR,
organicity
M ¼ 14 sessions
Parallel manualized parent
skills-training component.
4 joint parent-child sessions.
þoutpatient settingþprotocol
drivenþsample eligibiltity
characterizedþassessment of
child=family functioning
Storch et al. (2006) N ¼ 7 9–13 years 43% female
Ethnicity: 86% Caucasian Inc:
primary OCD-PANDAS
subtype diagnosis Exc:
psychosis, pervasive
developmental disorder, bipolar
disorder, current
suicidality
86% concurrent medication
M ¼ 14 sessions
All sessions included at least one
parent
þtest of exportabilityþprotocol
drivenþcomprehensive
assessment  small sample
size  concurrent medication
for portion of sample
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Studies Included in Review
Outcome Measures Results Effect Size Follow-Up
OCD: CY-BOCS NIMH CGI 50%# CY-BOCS, 52%# on
NIMH, 69% on CGI.
67% participants 50%# on
CY-BOCS at posttreatment
40% asymptomatic (NIMH
2
at posttreatment)
CY-BOCSPRE-POST ¼ 1.57 Gains maintained at 18 month
follow-up; Successful
medication discontinuation in 6
patients with CBT booster
sessions
OCD: CY-BOCS 61%# CY-BOCS
3 Ss refusing CBT showed no
symptom change over study
interval
CY-BOCSPRE-POST ¼ 2.05 All Ss evidenced symptom
exacerbation by 6 months post
tx, with 5 of 7 responding to
booster CBT
OCD: CY-BOCS NIMH
OTHER: HAM-A HDRS
63% participants50%# on
CY-BOCS at posttreatment
44%asymptomatic (NIMH
2 at
posttreatment)
Significant reduction in HAM-A
and HDRS scores
CY-BOCSPRE-POST ¼ 1.65
HAM-APRE-POST ¼ 1.09
HDRSPRE-POST ¼ 0.99
No follow-up data
OCD: NIMH CGI-I 79% response rate (CGI-I < 2)
45%# NIMH
No difference between CBT alone
or CBTþmedication
Poorer response predicted by
higher CY-BOCS Obsession
score and greater OCD-related
academic impairment both at
baseline
NIMH OVERALLPRE-POST ¼ 2.08
CBT-ONLYPRE-POST ¼ 2.14
CBTþMEDSPRE-POST ¼ 2.12
No follow-up data
OCD: ADIS-C=P CY-BOCS
NIMH CGI
OTHER: CGAS CDI
FAS FAD
86% OCD diagnosis free at
posttreatment
60% mean reduction in CY-BOCS
and NIMH Significant
reduction in family accommodation
No change in family
functioning as measured by
FAD
CY-BOCSPRE-POST ¼ 2.15
NIMHPRE-POST ¼ 2.20
CGASPRE-POST ¼ 1.41
CDIPRE-POST ¼ .83
FASPRE-POST ¼ 2.28
Improvements maintained at
3 month follow-up
OCD: CY-BOCS ADIS-P
CGI-S CGI-I
OTHER: TODS-PR
CDI MASC
86% response (CGI < 2)
71% diagnosis free at posttreatment
CY-BOCSPRE-POST ¼ 3.38
ADIS-PPRE-POST ¼ 2.30
CGI-SPRE-POST ¼ 2.90
50% responders at 3-month follow
up
(Continued )
TREATMENTS FOR CHILDHOOD OCD 143
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TABLE 3
Study Sample Treatment(s) Design Elements
Valderhaug et al. (2007) N ¼ 28 8–17 years 50% female
Ethnicity: Norwegian Inc:
primary OCD diagnosis Exc:
MR, anorexia nervosa,
Tourette’s syndrome, psychotic
disorder, PDD 20% on
concurrent medication
M ¼ 12 sessions
All families attended first two sessions
with subsequent involvement
depending on specifics of
case. Most families attended
multiple additional sessions
þoutpatient settingþprotocol
drivenþsample eligibility
characterized  small sample
GCBT
Thienemann et al. (2001) N ¼ 18 13–17 yrs 12 male 6 female
Ethnicity: NR Inc: OCD
diagnosis Exc: not specified Exc:
not specified
14 weekly sessions based on March
& Mulle (1998). Adapted to 2-hr
format
þoutpatient settingþprotocol
driven  sample eligibiltity not
characterizedþassessed
parenting stress
Himle et al. (2003) N ¼ 19 12–17 yrs 11 male 8 female
Ethnicity: NR Inc: OCD
diagnosis Exc: not specified
68% on concurrent medication
7 90-min adolescent sessions
1 optional parent session covering
psychoeducation about OCD
plus discussion of OCD-related
family problems
þoutpatient settingþprotocol
drivenþthorough assessment
 #parents attending parent
session not reported
Martin &Thienemann (2005) N ¼ 14 8–14 yrs 4 male 9 female
Ethnicity: NR Inc: primary
OCD diagnosis Exc: inability to
attend group due to scheduling
conflicts 64% on concurrent
medication
14 weekly sessions based on March
& Mulle (1998). Adapted to
90-min format
þoutpatient settingþprotocol
drivenþthorough assessment
Note: Effect size (Cohen’s d ¼ M1–M2=spooled. ICBT ¼ individual cognitive behavioral therapy; yrs ¼ years; NR ¼ not reported; Inc ¼
Children’s Yale–Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Scahill et al., 1997); NIMH ¼ National Institute of Mental Health
Severity rating (Guy, 1976); tx ¼ treatment; MR ¼ Mental Retardation; HAM-A ¼ Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (Hamilton, 1960);
Depressive Disorder; TS ¼ Tourette’s Syndrome; ADIS-C=P ¼ Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV Child=Parent Version
1995); FAD ¼ McMaster Family Assessment Device (Epstein, Baldwin, & Bishop, 1983); PANDAS ¼ pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric
Anxiety Scale for Children (March et al., 1997); PDD ¼ Pervasive Developmental Disorder; K-SADS-PL ¼ Schedule for Affective Disorders and
vioral therapy; CBCL ¼ Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach, 1991); PSI ¼ Parenting Stress Index (Abidin, 1995); COIS-P=C ¼ Children’s
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Continued
Outcome Measures Results Effect Size Follow-Up
OCD: K-SADS-PL CGAS
CY-BOCS NIMH CGI-S CGI-I
75% response rate (> 50%
reduction in symptoms)
60.6% CY-BOCS reduction
posttreatment
CY-BOCSPRE-POST ¼ 3.52
CGI-SPRE-POST ¼ 2.76
68.8% CY-BOCS reduction at
6-month follow-up
OCD: CY-BOCS NIMH CGI
OTHER: MASC CDI CBCL PSI
25% mean reduction in CY-BOCS
50% participants  25%# on
CY-BOCS at posttreatment
Significant reductions in MASC,
CDI, CBCL total scores
No change in either maternal or
paternal Parenting Stress (PSI)
CY-BOCSPRE-POST ¼ 1.15
NIMHPRE-POST ¼ 0.78
MASCPRE-POST ¼ 0.44
CDIPRE-POST ¼ 0.29
CBCLPRE-POST ¼ 0.64
PSI-MotherPRE-POST ¼ 0.00
PSI-FatherPRE-POST ¼ 0.00
No follow-up data
OCD: CY-BOCS 30% mean reduction in CY-BOCS
No difference between CBT alone
or CBTþmedication
No difference between CBT alone
or CBTþtic disorder
CY-BOCSPRE-POST ¼ 0.82 No follow-up data
OCD: CY-BOCS NIMH CGI-I
Target OCD Symptoms COIS-P
COIS-C
OTHER: MASC-P MASC-C CDI
CBCL-T CBCL-I
24.8% mean reduction in
CY-BOCS
43% participants25%# on
CY-BOCS at post-treatment.
Average posttreatment CGI-I
rating was ‘‘much improved’’
Significant reductions in COIS-P,
CDI, CBCL total and internalizing
scores
No significant change in COIS-C
or MASC-P or MASC-C
CY-BOCSPRE-POST ¼ 1.05
NIMHPRE-POST ¼ 1.00
COIS-PPRE-POST ¼ 0.91
COIS-CPRE-POST ¼ 0.22
TARGET Sx 1PRE-POST ¼ 0.40
TARGET Sx 2PRE-POST ¼ 0.26
MASC-PPRE-POST ¼ 0.22
MASC-CPRE-POST ¼ 0.20
CDIPRE-POST ¼ 0.42
CBCL-TPRE-POST ¼ 0.52
CBCL-IPRE-POST ¼ 0.49
PSI-MotherPRE-POST ¼ 0.00
PSI-FatherPRE-POST ¼ 0.00
No follow-up data
Inclusion Criteria; Enc ¼ Exclusion Criteria; OCD ¼ obsessive–compulsive disorder; SSRI ¼ selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors; CY-BOCS ¼
Global Scale (Murphy, Pickar, & Alterman, 1982); CGI-I ¼ Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement; CGI–S ¼ Clinical Global Impressions–
CGAS ¼ Children’s Global Assessment Scale (Shaffer et al., 1983); HDRS ¼ Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (Hamilton, 1960); MDD ¼ Major
(Silverman & Albano, 1996); CDI ¼ Children’s Depression Inventory (Kovacs, 1992); FAS ¼ Family Accommodation Scale (Calvocoressi et al.,
disorders associated with streptococcus; TODS–PR ¼ Tourette’s Disorder Scale–Parent Rated (Shytle et al., 2003); MASC ¼ Multidimensional
Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Present and Lifetime Version (Kaufman, Birmaher, Brent, & Rao, 1997); GCBT ¼ group cognitive beha-
Obsessive Compulsive Impact Scale-Parent=Child Report (Piacentini et al., 2003).
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1994; Martin & Thienemann, 2005; Piacentini et al.,
2002; Scahill et al., 1996; Storch et al., 2006; Thienemann
et al., 2001; Valderhaug et al., 2007; Waters et al., 2001)
exhibit a number methodologically rigorous design features,
including the use of standardized treatment protocols
that incorporate cognitive and=or family treatment
components, reliable and valid assessment measures,
and follow-up designs to evaluate treatment durability.
These features constitute a substantial improvement over
the single-case design studies that characterized the earliest
published Type 1, 2, and 3 trials (March, 1995).
The seven Type 3 studies of ICBT or individual plus family
CBT included in this review each led to significant
improvements in OC symptoms (dwithin group ¼ 1.57–
4.32),2 with mean reductions on the CY-BOCS ranging
from 51 to 70% (see Table 3). Furthermore, these trials
suggest that treatment gains generally are maintained
at follow-up assessments, which ranged in mean time
of follow-up from 3 months (Scahill et al., 1996; Waters
et al., 2001) to 21 months posttreatment (March et al.,
1994). The three retained studies of GCBT (Himle
et al., 2003; Martin & Thienemann, 2005; Thienemann
et al., 2001) were similarly rigorous in design and
execution and also found significant, although less dramatic,
improvements in OC symptomatology for group
(dwithin group ¼0.82–1.15) as compared to individual
treatment.
Individual Treatment Studies
In one of the first open trials of manualized CBT for
children and adolescents with OCD, March et al.
(1994) evaluated an exposure-based CBT protocol with
15 consecutive participants in a university-based clinical
research program (M age ¼ 14.3 years, range ¼ 8–18
years, 87% Caucasian), assessing youth at posttreatment
and follow-up (range ¼ 3–21 months
posttreatment). Results indicated that 6 participants
were asymptomatic on the National Institute of Mental
Health-Global Obsessive Compulsive Scale (NIMHGOCS;
Insel, Hoover, & Murphy, 1983), a clinicianrated
single item index of overall OCD severity,
immediately posttreatment and 9 demonstrated at least
a 50% reduction in CY-BOCS symptoms. There was
no indication of any patient relapse at follow-up
assessment and booster treatment enabled 6 participants
to discontinue medication with minimal to no return of
symptoms.
Scahill and colleagues (1996) utilized a standardized
CBT protocol with a parental component to treat seven
youngsters with OCD (M age ¼ 13.0 years,
range ¼ 10.8–15.8 years). The treatment protocol was
conducted across 14 individual sessions and parental
education sessions were conducted every other week
from Sessions 3 to 11 with the goal of training parents
to serve as coaches during homework exercises. All participants
demonstrated a clinically significant reduction
of symptoms, with a mean reduction of 61% on the
CY-BOCS. These gains were maintained at 3-month
follow-up, and booster sessions again were effective in
preventing relapse in the majority of participants.
Notably, three children who met criteria for OCD but
elected not to receive the treatment showed no change
in CY-BOCS scores from baseline to follow-up.
Piacentini et al. (2002) conducted an open trial of
manual-guided CBT with 42 children and adolescents
(M age ¼ 11.7 years, range ¼ 5–17 years). Approximately
half the sample (52%) was on psychotropic
medication for their OCD at the time of referral,
and these youth remained on a stable dose over the
course of treatment. A manualized family treatment
2Within group effect sizes were calculated using the following
formula: d ¼ (Xpost – Xpre)=spooled (Cohen, 1988).
TABLE 4
Classification of Psychosocial Treatments for Obessive–Compulsive Disorder in Children and Adolescents
Psychosocial Treatment Citation for Evidence
Well-Established Treatments
None —
Probably Efficacious Treatments
Individual Cognitive Behavioral Therapy POTS (2004)
Individual Cognitive Behavioral TherapyþSertraline POTS (2004)
Possibly Efficacious Treatments
Family-Focused Individual Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Barrett et al. (2004)
Family-Focused Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Barrett et al. (2004)
Experimental Treatments
Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Asbahar et al. (2005)
Thienemamm et al. (2001)
Himle et al. (2003)
Martin et al. (2005)
Note: POTS ¼ Pediatric OCD Treatment Study Team.
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component provided psychoeducation about OCD and
guidelines for helping parents to disengage from
involvement with their child’s OCD symptoms and to
foster generalization and maintenance of treatment
gains. However, the nature and extent of parental
involvement varied according to the clinical picture of
individual patients and was negotiated between the
therapist and the family. Results indicated a 45% mean
reduction in NIMH-GOCS ratings for both CBT alone
and CBT plus medication, with 79% of all participants
rated as significantly improved as measured using the
CGI. The response rate did not differ between the CBTonly
condition and the concurrent medication condition.
Results also demonstrated that a poorer response to
treatment, based on NIMH-GOCS score reductions,
was related to more severe obsessions, greater anxiety,
and poorer academic and social functioning, as measured
by the Child OC Impact Scale (COIS; Piacentini
et al., 2003), a rating scale measure of OCD-specific
functional impairment, at baseline. Unfortunately,
follow-up data were not available for this sample.
Benazon et al. (2002) evaluated an ICBT protocol via
an open trial of 16 treatment naive Caucasian youth,
ages 8 to 17 years (mean age not provided). Treatment
was based on the integration of two existing therapy
manuals (March & Mulle, 1998; Schwartz, 1996) and
participants were assessed with a standardized assessment
battery. At posttreatment, 10 participants had
experienced a 50% reduction in CY-BOCS scores, and
44% were considered asymptomatic as judged by a
NIMH-GOCS score of 2 or less. Participants also
demonstrated a decrease in anxiety severity and a
decrease in the severity of depressive symptoms.
Follow-up data were not provided.
Individual Treatment With Family Involvement Studies
Waters et al. (2001) treated seven children and young
adolescents ages 10 to 14 years (mean age not reported)
with a 14-week individual treatment protocol that
included a structured weekly parent skills training
component. Results indicated that at posttreatment,
86% of participants were diagnosis free, with a mean
reduction of 60% on both CY-BOCS and NIMHGOCS
severity ratings. These improvements were maintained
to 3-month follow-up. Significant reductions
were also found in family accommodation from preto
posttreatment.
More recently, efforts have been made to assess the
effectiveness of CBT for treating the pediatric autoimmune
neuropsychiatric disorders associated with
streptococcus (PANDAS) subtype of OCD. Storch
et al. (2006) conducted a small open trial of seven children
(M age ¼ 11.1 years, range ¼ 9–13 years) with
PANDAS. Participants received 3 weeks of intensive
CBT that involved 14 sessions of daily CBT with
parental involvement designed to enhance compliance
(Lewin et al., 2005). Treatment was adapted from POTS
study (POTS Team, 2004) previously described. At the
end of treatment, six of the seven participants were rated
treatment responders by blind raters using standardized
assessments. Of these youth, 50% maintained responder
status at 3-month follow-up.
Individual Treatment Effectiveness Studies
As a growing number of efficacy studies have demonstrated
that exposure-based CBT may be helpful in
treating patients with OCD in controlled laboratory or
hospital settings, attention has turned to whether these
treatments are exportable to community settings. In
the first published effectiveness study of CBT for childhood
OCD, Valderhaug et al. (2007) examined the use
of manual-guided individualþfamily CBT in three community
outpatient clinics in Norway. Twenty-eight
youth (M age ¼ 13.3 years, range ¼ 8–17 years) with a
primary diagnosis of OCD were assessed pre- and posttreatment
using an extensive standardized assessment
battery. All participants except one (who was symptom
free after seven sessions) completed 12 weeks of treatment
following the manualized approach of Piacentini
et al. (2002). Significant improvements were demonstrated
on all outcome measures, with a mean symptom
reduction of 60.6% on the CY-BOCS immediately posttreatment
and 68.8% at 6-month follow-up.
Group Treatment Studies
Thienemann and colleagues (2001) treated 18 adolescents
(M age ¼ 15.2 years, range ¼ 13–17 years) using
a protocol that involved 14 weekly sessions of GCBT
with 15 min of parental participation incorporated into
each session. Group size ranged from 5 to 9 youngsters.
OCD symptoms decreased significantly from pre- to
posttreatment with a mean reduction of 25% in
CY-BOCS scores and small reductions in Multidimensional
Anxiety Scale for Children (March et al., 1997),
Children’s Depression Inventory (Kovacs, 1992) and
Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach, 1991) scores.
The authors noted that their study did not allow for
an examination of how group composition affected outcomes
and aptly pointed out that although some youth
are likely to benefit more than others from GCBT, the
study design did not allow them to untangle this issue.
In addition, participants were not required to be stable
on medication over the course of treatment.
Himle et al. (2003) used GCBT to examine whether
response to treatment was influenced by the presence
of comorbid tics. Nineteen adolescents (M age ¼ 14.63
years, range ¼ 12–17 years) took part in a 7-week open
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trial during which they received weekly 90-min sessions
of CBT. Of the 19 participants, 8 had tic-related OCD
and the remainder were classified as non-tic-related
cases. Unfortunately, neither baseline diagnoses nor tic
severity were assessed using standardized measures. All
youth demonstrated significant improvements in
CY-BOCS scores, and there were no differences across
tic-related and non-tic-related adolescents, suggesting
that comorbidity may not undermine response to CBT.
Martin and Thienemann (2005) evaluated a GCBT
protocol with middle school children ages 8 to 14 years.
Youth and their parents participated in 14 weeks of
treatment based on the March and Mulle (1998) treatment
manual but adapted to a weekly 90-min group
format. Groups were composed of four to six families,
and in addition to standardized assessments used preand
posttreatment, weekly adherence ratings were
obtained. The results indicated a substantial reduction
in OCD symptoms as evidenced by a mean reduction
of 25% on the CY-BOCS. In addition, youth were rated
‘‘much improved’’ on the NIMH-GOCS, and parents
reported a significant decrease in OCD-related functional
impairment posttreatment as measured by the
COIS (Piacentini et al., 2003).
EVALUATIVE CONCLUSIONS
Limitations of Type 1 Treatment Studies
Although clinical trials by Barrett, Healy-Farrell, &
March, (2004) and the POTS Team (2004) provide
promising evidence to support the efficacy of CBT
delivered either in individual format or in family-focused
individual or group formats, a number of limitations
merit consideration. Findings from the trial conducted
by Barrett, Healy-Farrell, & March, (2004) are
constrained by the lack of a primary outcome measure
integrating both child- and parent-report information
and by the use of a waitlist condition that was only 4
to 6 weeks in duration. In addition, it was not possible
to assess the effects of treatment versus no treatment at
follow-up, and low rates of response at 3- and 6-month
follow-up limit interpretation of follow-up data. Likewise,
findings from POTS are tempered by small
sample size, limited power, and a SiteCondition
interaction that obscures a clear picture of study
findings. Furthermore, understanding of the durability
of treatment gains is limited, at present, by the absence
of follow-up data.
Limitations of Type 2 Treatment Studies
As with their Type 1 counterparts, all four of the Type 2
studies reviewed herein also provide support for the
efficacy of exposure-based CBT for children and adolescents
with OCD. Of interest, however, neither Franklin
et al. (1998) nor Storch et al. (2007) demonstrated the
durable superiority of intensive versus weekly CBT for
childhood OCD. However, methodological concerns
suggest caution in interpreting these findings. Most
important, in both studies, the intensive and weekly
treatment groups evidenced notable baseline differences
in terms of both illness severity and demographic status.
Other limitations include small sample size, lack of standardized
diagnostic assessment (Franklin et al., 1998),
and notable sample attrition at follow-up (Storch et al.,
2007). In addition, neither study utilized blind outcome
assessors. Likewise, although the large effect sizes
reported by de Haan and colleagues (1998) are noteworthy,
the small sample size in their randomized trial
raises questions about the generalizability of these findings
to the larger population. Finally, findings from
Asbahr et al. (2005), although also promising, are undermined
by the absence of adequate statistical information.
Limitations of Type 3 Treatment Studies
Taken together, the open trials conducted to date have
provided a strong preliminary foundation to support
the use of CBT in treating child and adolescent OCD.
Type 3 studies of individual treatment suggest that it
may be useful for both children and adolescents, that
it is associated with favorable outcomes regardless of
baseline medication status (Piacentini et al., 2002), and
that it may be effective in the community (Valderhaug
et al., 2007) and with PANDAS subtypes (Storch et al.,
2006). In addition, work to date points to a number of
factors that may influence treatment response, including
baseline symptom severity, academic, and social functioning
(Piacentini et al., 2002).
Despite the promise of these results, however, studies
in this category suffer from a number of flaws endemic
to open trial designs. With limited exceptions, the Type
3 studies previously reviewed are limited by relatively
small sample sizes, the absence of a control condition,
variability in the quality of assessment measures and
the amount of treatment provided to participants and
family members, and absent or inconsistent timing of
follow-up assessments.
The available group treatment studies are equally
difficult to evaluate. Although previous research in the
field of child and adolescent anxiety has demonstrated
that group-based treatment for the management of anxiety
is helpful (e.g., Barrett, 1998; Mendlowitz et al.,
1999; Shortt, Barrett, & Fox, 2001; Silverman et al.,
1999), and apparently similarly efficacious, as individual
approaches (Flannery-Schroeder & Kendall, 2000) the
limited open trial data previously described make it
difficult to draw conclusions about the comparative
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efficacy of group versus ICBT for OCD. In contrast to
findings from Barrett, Healy-Farrell, and March (2004)
controlled trial, data from the Type 3 open trials suggest
that treatment outcomes may be less impressive for
group as compared to ICBT, with posttreatment CYBOCS
reductions of 25% to 32% for group treatment,
compared to 50%to 85%in individual treatment studies.
As some youth are likely to be more responsive to GCBT
than others, it is also unclear at this juncture who is most
likely to benefit or how group configuration affects treatment
response.
Critically, given that the group-based studies conducted
to date are open trials, they include the limitations of
the other Type 3 studies discussed earlier, including
issues related to sample size, assessment procedures,
and lack of randomization or control groups. It is also
important to note that youth in two of the group treatment
studies (Martin & Thienemann, 2005; Thienemann
et al., 2001) were not on stable medication over the
course of treatment, a factor that makes it difficult to
determine whether improvements were related to the
effects of psychosocial treatment, medication change,
or placebo effects. Thus, although these studies provide
some preliminary support for group-based CBT of
youth with OCD, controlled evaluations comparing
individual versus group delivery of CBT are necessary
to advance our understanding of the relative efficacy
of these treatment modalities.
EVIDENCE-BASED STATUS OF
TREATMENTS FOR OCD
Based on this review, there are no treatments that
currently meet the criteria for a well-established treatment
as specified by Chambless et al. (1998), Chambless
et al. (1996), and Chambless and Hollon (1998). At
present, the most thoroughly examined intervention,
exposure-based ICBT, meets the requirements for
designation as a probably efficacious psychological
intervention (see Table 4). As noted earlier, the distinction
of probably efficacious requires either (a) two independent
randomized controlled trials demonstrating the
superiority of the treatment in question to waitlist
control or (b) at least one study demonstrating the treatment
to be superior to pill or psychological placebo or
an alternative treatment. Exposure-based ICBT meets
these requirements based on findings from the POTS
Team (2004) suggesting that ICBT is equivalent to
(and possibly superior to) the established SSRI, sertraline,
and superior to pill placebo. In addition, although
thorough examination of combined treatment strategies
for child and adolescent OCD is beyond the scope
of this review, combination treatment (ICBT and
sertraline) appears to meet the criteria for probably efficacious
based on its superiority to SSRI medication
alone and possible superiority to CBT alone (POTS
Team, 2004).
The results of this review also indicate that both
family-focused ICBT and family-focused GCBT treatment
can be considered possibly efficacious treatments
based on Barrett, Healy-Farrell, & March, (2004), who
demonstrated the superiority of both interventions to a
waitlist control condition (Table 4). Finally, our review
suggests that GCBT without an intensive structured
family component remains an experimental treatment
because of the absence of controlled data on this intervention
modality. Certainly, these classifications are
likely to change as additional trials are completed;
however, they mark significant advances in the treatment
of child and adolescent OCD over the past
few years.
IMPLICATIONS AND CLINICAL
GENERALIZABILITY
Despite the promising efficacy demonstrated to date for
CBT, certain methodological limitations in the existing
literature must be noted. First, the vast majority of
studies to date have utilized primarily Caucasian samples
that are relatively free of many of the serious
comorbidities commonly associated with OCD (e.g.,
depressive disorder, tic disorders, externalizing disorders).
Indeed, with the exception of the Latino sample
employed by Asbahr et al. (2005), the vast majority of
studies reporting ethnicity demographics have incorporated
samples that are more than 85% Caucasian (e.g.,
Storch et al., 2007; Storch et al., 2006) or, in some cases,
fully Caucasian (e.g., Benazon et al., 2002). When
reported, minority participants typically have been of
Latino descent and have constituted too small a number
(e.g., n ¼ 1) from which to draw evaluative conclusions
about ethnic group differences related to treatment
response (e.g., Storch et al., 2007; Storch et al., 2006).
Thus, it remains unclear whether treatment efficacy
varies as a function of child ethnicity or race.
With regard to comorbidity, studies that have been
flexible with regard to exclusion criteria or that have
included highly comorbid cases tend to fall into the
Type 3 category and thus suffer from a number of methodological
issues that undermine generalization. At the
same time, the stringent exclusion criteria applied in
some Type 1 studies makes it difficult to determine
how typical the evaluated samples are of communitybased
treatment referrals. Indeed, a review of the mean
severity ratings across the studies included in this review
(based on CY-BOCS total scores) indicates that all
samples were within moderate range of severity at
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pretreatment. As increased baseline symptom severity
and functional impairment have been associated with a
poorer treatment response (Barrett et al., 2005; Piacentini
et al., 2002) for youth with moderate OCD severity, it is
unclear how effective CBT, at least as administered in the
studies previously described, will be in more demographically
diverse populations and for youth with more
severe and or complicated clinical presentations.
Second, even within the relatively homogenous
samples studied thus far, there is still considerable room
for improvement in treatment outcomes. Indeed, in spite
of the relatively robust effect sizes noted for CBT and
combined treatment, a substantial proportion of children
and adolescents in both the CBT and medication
trials noted above demonstrated a less-than-optimal
response to treatment. For example, in the POTS trial,
only 39% of youngsters receiving CBT only and only
53% of those receiving CBTþSSRI were considered
to be even reasonably symptom free at the end of 12
weeks of treatment. In addition, the degree to which
CBT positively influences psychosocial functioning,
although examined in a handful of Type 2 and 3 studies,
has not been well addressed by existing Type 1 trials.
This is an important omission given the demonstrated
negative impact of OCD on the social, academic, and
family functioning of affected children and adolescents.
It is interesting to note that, in contrast to the Type 1
psychosocial treatment literature, at least two randomized
controlled multisite psychopharmacological trials
for childhood OCD have demonstrated the efficacy of
SSRI medication in improving psychosocial functioning
(Geller et al., 2001; Liebowitz et al., 2002).
In addition, questions remain as to the optimal
mode of CBT delivery and findings regarding the relative
benefits of GCBT versus ICBT merit further
examination. By and large, effect sizes from open
trials of GCBT tend to be smaller than for ICBT.
However, Barrett, Healy-Farrell, & March, (2004)
did not find this disparity in their comparison of individual
versus group treatment, a finding that may
reflect the more rigorous design features of their Type
1 trial. As Asbahr et al. (2005) did not provide details
to facilitate calculation of effect sizes, it is difficult to
draw conclusions in this area and more research is
needed to elucidate this issue.
Likewise, the role of families in treating child and
adolescent OCD requires closer scrutiny. Despite the
ample documentation of the impact of child and adolescent
OCD on family functioning (e.g., Piacentini
et al., 2003; Renshaw, Steketee, & Chambless, 2005;
Waters & Barrett, 2000), the incremental efficacy of
family (typically parent) participation in child treatment
has yet to be examined systematically. Moreover, systematic
family involvement in treatment has not yet
been shown to significantly enhance either child
outcomes or family functioning (e.g., Barrett, Healy-
Farrell, Piacentini, & March, 2004). At the same time,
the largest effect sizes of CBT reported thus far are
derived from a treatment protocol with arguably the
highest ‘‘dose’’ of family intervention (Barrett, Healy-
Farrell, & March, 2004). Given the notable impact of
OCD on the family (Renshaw et al., 2005) as well as
the developmental considerations intrinsic to working
with children and adolescents, it is no surprise that the
general consensus in the field dictates that some degree
of family involvement in the treatment of child and adolescent
OCD is merited (e.g., Barrett, Healy-Farrell, &
March, 2004; Piacentini et al., 2006; Renshaw et al.,
2005). However, the nature of family involvement in
therapy is unlikely to be a one size fits all proposition,
and flexibility will be needed to address the widely
differing needs (e.g., accommodation of OC symptoms
vs. anger=frustration) of individual families presenting
for treatment.
MEDIATORS, MODERATORS, AND
PREDICTORS OF TREATMENT RESPONSE
As the understanding of child and adolescent OCD and
its treatment moves forward, a natural question pertains
to which treatments work best and for whom. By and
large, there is only limited work addressing predictors
of treatment response for youth with OCD and, unfortunately,
this question remains largely unanswered.
The lack of research on this important topic undoubtedly
is related to the relatively small sample sizes and,
hence, limited available statistical power, characterizing
the psychosocial treatment studies for childhood OCD
published to date. In the only study examining
demographic factors published to date, Piacentini
et al. (2002) did not find a relationship between treatment
response and age, gender, or baseline medication
status.
Although the adult literature suggests that comorbidity,
motivation, fixity of beliefs, and family-level variables
such as expressed emotion or patient perceptions of criticism
are predictive of worse response to exposure-based
CBT (Abramowitz & Foa, 2000; Chambless & Steketee,
1999; de Haan et al., 1997; Foa, Abramowitz, Franklin,
& Kozak, 1999), these variables have yet to be examined
in child and adolescent populations. However, the limited
data that are available suggest that pretreatment individual
and family functioning may be important predictors
of psychosocial treatment response (Barrett et al., 2005;
Piacentini et al., 2002) with greater symptom severity
and worse anxiety, academic, and social functioning
predictive of poorer outcomes.
Work formally testing these variables as mediators
or moderators of treatment outcome has yet to be
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conducted. Indeed, the only examination of putative
moderators to date has involved secondary analysis of
the POTS data (March et al., 2007), which found
comorbid tics to moderate treatment outcome for youth
receiving sertraline but not CBT. This finding argues for
the use of CBT as the frontline intervention for youngsters
with comorbid tic conditions (March et al., 2007).
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BEST PRACTICE
Based on the literature published to date, exposurebased
CBT appears to be a consistently beneficial intervention
for child and adolescent OCD producing
remission rates of disorder ranging from 40% to 85%
across studies (Barrett, Healy-Farrell, & March, 2004;
Benazon et al., 2002; POTS Team, 2004; Waters et al.,
2001). CBT also has generated between-group effect
sizes on the CY-BOCS ranging from 0.99 to 2.84 for
the Type 1 studies and within-group effect sizes on the
CY-BOCS from 1.57 to 4.32 (ICBT) and 0.82 to 1.15
(GCBT) for the Type 2 and 3 studies. The large to very
large effect sizes demonstrated for the Type 1 CBT studies
contrast notably with the psychopharmacological
treatment literature. A recent meta-analysis of 12 published
randomized placebo-controlled medication
trials for childhood OCD comprising 1,044 participants
found only a modest effect size for psychopharmacological
intervention (pooled standardized mean
difference ¼ 0.46; 95% confidence interval ¼ 0.37–
0.55; Geller et al., 2003). Support for the potential
advantage of CBT over psychopharmacological
intervention also is provided by de Haan et al.’s (1997)
finding that CBT was more efficacious than medication
and by findings from the POTS (2004) trial. However,
given the relatively small sample sizes for each of these
studies, additional larger scale comparative trials clearly
are needed to clarify this important issue.
In addition to the controlled CBT literature, uncontrolled
trials suggest that CBT appears to be equally
efficacious when delivered as monotherapy or as an
adjunct to preexisting pharmacotherapy (Franklin
et al., 1998; Piacentini et al., 2002; Storch et al.,
2007). CBT also appears to deliver significant improvement
for youth when delivered individually (i.e.,
Barrett, Healy-Farrell, & March, 2004; Franklin
et al., 1998; Piacentini et al., 2002; POTS Team,
2004; Scahill et al., 1996) or in group format (i.e.,
Barrett, Healy-Farrell, & March, 2004; Fischer et al.,
1998; Thienemann et al., 2001). Finally, although not
blindly assessed, CBT efficacy appears durable to at
least 18 months posttreatment (Barrett et al., 2005;
March et al., 1994). The results of our review,
especially when taken in the context of the child psychopharmacology
literature (e.g., Geller et al., 2003),
provide strong support for the use of individual CBT
as a first-line intervention for children and adolescents
with OCD seen in outpatient or day treatment settings
and suggest that individual CBT accompanied by a
structured family intervention and=or delivered in group
format are reasonably viable therapeutic alternatives
(see Table 4).
FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR YOUTH OCD
TREATMENT RESEARCH
Historically, OCD during childhood and adolescence
has been considered a difficult condition to treat relative
to other anxiety disorders. Given that the protocols
described in this article differ substantially from traditional
CBT approaches to child anxiety disorders in
their emphasis on exposure plus response prevention,
and in light of the current recognition of an underlying
neurological basis to the pathogenesis of OCD, there is
some leverage to this widely held belief. At the same
time, the outlook for youth with OCD is promising.
An examination of the current state of the literature
reveals strong evidence for good, durable outcomes
following 10 to 14 sessions of CBT. However, as noted
earlier, there are a number of issues that need to be
addressed in future research trials.
First, replication studies that can further understanding
of best-treatment guidelines and help to establish the
parameters of current treatments are in order. These
studies must focus on further evaluating the relative efficacy
of individual and group treatments, as well as
examining the longer term durability of therapy outcome
beyond 18 months posttreatment. Future trials
with sophisticated designs and assessment protocols
are also warranted to develop more specific treatment
guidelines that can prescribe particular treatment modalities
(i.e., individual vs. group; CBT alone vs. CBT þ medication) for specific clinical presentations. In
addition, controlled evaluations of CBT with more
severe samples, including inpatient samples and youngsters
with significant comorbidities, most notably tic,
externalizing, and depressive disorders, are necessary
to inform us of the efficacy of this intervention across
a broader range of patients and clinical presentations.
Second, it is important to develop strategies for
treating current treatment nonresponders. Intensive
treatments, multimodal intervention, and more intensive
family involvement are all intuitively promising strategies
in this arena and future work must address the
relative contribution of each as well as sequencing
algorithms that may be used to guide individualized
treatment approaches.
Third, closer examination of family involvement in
treatment is in order. A growing body of literature
TREATMENTS FOR CHILDHOOD OCD 151
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points to family factors characteristic of children and
adolescents with OCD and suggests that these variables
may influence treatment outcomes (see Renshaw et al.,
2005, for a review). Although the majority of the child
and adolescent treatment protocol involve some degree
of family participation, on the whole, the open-ended
and flexible nature of this involvement has prevented
rigorous examination of what this component contributes
to treatment. Indeed, even though both the expert
consensus guidelines (March et al., 1997) and the
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
(1998) practice parameters recommend family involvement
in treatment, there is as yet no direct empirical evidence
to support this recommendation. Carefully
controlled studies assessing the incremental efficacy of
family involvement above and beyond the benefits associated
with individual treatment have yet to be undertaken.
Thus, an important step for future research will
entail closer examination of family involvement in treatment
as well as which particular family factors (e.g.,
accommodation, blame, conflict, etc.) are most relevant
for youth outcomes.
Fourth, controlled research examining the central
components of CBT for child and adolescent OCD as
well as mediators and moderators of treatment response
and mechanisms of action has yet to be conducted. For
example, although the efficacy of primarily cognitive
interventions has garnered some support in the adult
literature (e.g., Abramowitz, 1997), this issue remains
to be addressed in younger populations. Certainly, the
non-OCD anxiety literature emphasizes the value of
behavioral components of CBT interventions (e.g.,
exposure; Kendall et al., 2005), and it will be important
to examine how developmental considerations bring to
bear on the active ingredients of CBT treatment for
child and adolescent OCD. Translational research
efforts investigating the neurocognitive, neurobiological,
and even genetic underpinnings of CBT efficacy (e.g.,
Schwartz, Stoessel, Baxter, Martin, & Phelps, 1996) will
also be necessary both to better understand how these
treatments work and to guide the refinement of more
effective interventions as well as methods for predicting
optimal intervention candidates.
Finally, efforts will be needed to transport CBT treatments
for child and adolescent OCD into community
settings where they can be delivered effectively by real
clinicians and applied to real patient populations. There
is certainly an argument to be made that evidence-based
outcomes are based on ‘‘unrealistic’’ conditions. For
example, typical treatment trials are conducted by
expert clinicians (usually doctoral level) with regular
professional team supervision occurring throughout
the trial to ensure first-class treatment integrity.
Moreover, the often strict inclusion and exclusion criteria
frequently means the most severe or difficult
patients (i.e., those with comorbidity, or who have failed
previous treatment attempts) are not actually included
in these trials. Thus it will be important for the research
community to develop systematic approaches to disseminating
evidence-based protocols into the community
through adequate professional training programs, to
evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions across
a broad range of settings (hospitals, community centers,
schools), and to find ways to sustain evidence-based
practice in the real world, with outcomes that can compare
favorably to those reported in our clinical trials.
Valderhaug et al. (2007) have taken important first steps
in demonstrating the effectiveness of CBT delivered in
community settings for youth with OCD; however, there
is much remaining work to be done in this arena. The
promising future of CBT for child and adolescent
OCD, which can be considered a probably efficacious
treatment based on more than 10 years of systematic evaluations,
hinges on this pivotal next step.
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Paula Barrett Adjunct Professor, School of Education

Professor Paula Barrett is one of Australia’s leading scholars in the area prevention and treatment of childhood anxiety disorders. Author of more than 160 articles in peer-reviewed journals, Professor Barrett served on the editorial boards of 7 international top rank journals. Her research is highly cited, and uses the highest quality research validation designs that are replicated internationally.

Paula’s FRIENDS for Life programs for the prevention and treatment of anxiety and depression in children, adolescents and adults are available in 12 languages and are used in 18 countries by: government departments for the education and health sectors, psychological and research-based clinics, academic institutions, and non-profit organisations.

Amongst other top-ranking international and peer-review journals, Paula’s research and programs have been cited in The Cochrane Collaboration and supported by the World Health Organization

Paula is also the Director of the innovative research-based clinic, Pathways Health and Research Centre. And is the patron of the Pathways to Resilience Trust that works to implement the Fun Friends and FRIENDS for Life programs in Australian schools in areas of low Socio-Economic Status, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse and Indigenous backgrounds, as well as regional and remote areas, particularly those affected by drought.

Recently, Paula received the Highly Commended Certificate, in the Human Rights Medal of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Telstra Queensland Business Woman of the Year Award 2008. In 2008 she has also been a finalist in the Australian of the Year Queensland Award, and the Queenslander of the Year Award, for her contribution to the well-being of children and to the community.

If you are interested in Paula’s area of research please feel free to make contact