Comparing the Efficacy of Cognitive and Exposure Therapy Methods in the Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of Cognitive and Exposure therapies in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). An experimental study was conducted through pre-test, post-test methods, using a control group. The statistical population of the study included all 20-40 year old OCD patients visiting clinical centers in Saghez and Boukan. Forty five patients with OCD were randomly selected from this population as samples. The experimental group underwent both cognitive and exposure therapies. The control group did not receive any kind of therapy. Data gathering was done with the Madsly questionnaire for OCD. Data analysis was done using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) and the least significant difference (LSD) test to compare scores differences between pretest and posttest variables in the experimental and control groups. Findings showed that cognitive and exposure therapies had significant impacts on improving obsession, checking out, washing, slowness and obsessive doubts in comparison to the control group (p<0.01). The results showed that Whittle’s Cognitive therapy had greater impact on reducing obsessions as compared to Exposure therapy.