Efficacy of Group based Compassion Focused Therapy in Male Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: A Pilot Study

Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) engages Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) patients in value-based action and changes the context of anxiety with self-kindness. The aim of the study was to explore the initial feasibility of CFT as a group therapy for OCD. This was a cross-sectional Pre, Post and follow up pilot study conducted in a group of five OCD patients based on purposive sampling. Patients were given group based CFT for 16 sessions. Assessment was done using Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive scale (Y-BOCS,1989), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI,1988), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI,1988), the Cognitive Intrusions Questionnaire (CIQ,1991), Obsessive Belief Questionnaire (OBQ 2005), Fears of Compassion Scale (FCS,2011), Other as Shamer Scale (OAS,1994), Subjective Well Being Scale (SWBS,1985) and Clinical Global Impression (CGI,1976). Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and repeated measure ANOVA with the help of SPSS version 25. Findings showed improvement in OC symptoms, anxiety, depression, avoidance behavior, on importance/ control of obsession thoughts, self-compassion, external shame and global symptom severity. Findings suggests that group-based CFT is feasible and efficacious for testing on a large base of adult male OCD patients.