Date of Award:

5-2012

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Educational Specialist (EdS)

Department:

Psychology

Committee Chair(s)

Clint E. Field

Committee

Clint E. Field

Committee

Michael P. Twohig

Committee

David M. Stein

Abstract

Pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) affects as many as 2.7% of children. Pediatric OCD is associated with significant distress for both families and children in multiple domains. Unfortunately, the majority of children with OCD do not receive adequate treatment. Without treatment pediatric OCD often persists into adulthood.

The current primary psychological treatment for pediatric OCD is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) with exposure and response prevention (ERP). However, there are multiple limitations of this treatment. Some children either do not respond to current treatments or respond only minimally, while others drop out or refuse treatment.
Exposure-based treatments yield problems with treatment adherence, time restraints, access to exposure situations, and client engagement in treatment. Additionally, current treatment protocols rarely utilize parents despite research-based evidence that involvement of parents in treatment can benefit both child and family. Other treatment options are needed to address these limitations. The current study investigated the effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in the treatment of pediatric OCD. It also investigated the effects of ACT in decreasing both the child’s and parent’s avoidance of unpleasant experiences.

Three children with pediatric OCD attended nine weekly ACT treatment sessions. Parents accompanied children to sessions and participated in discussions and activities. Treatment sessions focused on helping children to increase acceptance of their own thoughts and feelings while viewing them less literally. Children were encouraged to use values to guide their actions. Results showed that children had reduced OCD symptoms following the conclusion of treatment. Both parents and children were less avoidant and more accepting of unpleasant experiences following treatment.

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Comments

This work made publicly available electronically on May 11, 2012.

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