Comparison of the Effect of Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy and Metacognitive Therapy on Obsessive-compulsive Disorder Syndrome

Today, there are an increasing number of patients suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder or repetitive behaviors and as a result interfering with their daily life activities. Therefore, treatment of this disorder is of particular importance for therapists working on this field. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy OF exposure and response prevention therapy and metacognitive therapy in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. This is a semi-experimental study with pre- and post-test and a control group. Statistical population included people with obsessive-compulsive referred to counseling centers of Sirjan City. Forty five patients selected as convenience sample were then randomly divided into three groups of 15, two test groups and one control group. The first test group received 8 weekly sessions of meta-cognitive therapy. Exposure and response prevention therapy was assigned for the second test group with similar duration and control group received an irrelevant intervention. The data gathering instrument was the Obsessive-Compulsive checklist of Madesley. Descriptive statistics, covariance analysis and Tukey post hoc test were used to analyze the data. The results indicated that exposure and response prevention therapy had a significant effect on reduction of the mean scores of the obsessive-compulsory disorder compared to the control group (p=0.012). Also, the difference between the scores of pre- and post-test was statistically significant (p=0.033). Based on the findings of this study, the effect of exposure and response prevention therapy on reduction of obsessive-compulsive disorder was higher than that of meta-cognitive therapy and it may be a useful and applicable therapeutic method for relevant therapists working at consultant centers