Effectiveness of Structural Family Therapy in Reducing Symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Intrusive thoughts and repetitive actions are the characteristics of obsessive-compulsive disorder that creates numerous problems for patients affected by this illness. The object of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of structural family therapy in reducing symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. In order to do so, in a quasi-experimental study with pretest, posttest, and control group design, 24 volunteer patients diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder who referred to treatment centers of Sannandaj city along with their families were selected using convenience sampling method and randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The subjects in the experimental group received eight sessions of structural family therapy; whereas, subjects in the control group received no psychological intervention. Subjects in both groups were evaluated for the level of obsessive- compulsive symptoms before and after the intervention. The data analyzes using MANCOVA demonstrated that Structural Family Therapy is significant in terms of reducing contamination obsessions (CONO), washing compulsions (WASC), ordering compulsions (ORDC), checking compulsions (CHKC), obsessional thoughts about harm to self/others (OTAHSO), obsessional thoughts about violence (OTAV), and obsessional impulses to harm self/others (OITHSO) (p≤0/05). According to this study, the role and influence of family in creation and aggregation of mental disorders especially obsessive-compulsive disorder is confirmed.