NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Psychological treatment derived from cognitive behavioral models is effective for patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the results of a study published in the current issue of The Cochrane Library suggest.

Dr. IIeana Gava of the Mandala Clinic in New South Wales, Australia, and colleagues conducted a systematic review of randomized OCD trials to compare the effectiveness of psychological treatments to treatment as usual.

The main outcome measure was obsessive-compulsive symptom levels, which were assessed using validated clinician-rated scales or self-rating scales. Secondary outcome measures included dropout rates, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, quality of life, and absence of treatment response.

A total of 7 psychological studies and 10 comparisons studies were included in the meta-analysis. The psychological trials assessed three different variants of psychological interventions: cognitive behavior therapy, behavior therapy, and cognitive therapy.

After analyzing the pooled data, the investigators found that patients receiving any form of cognitive behavioral treatment had significantly fewer obsessive-compulsive symptoms post-treatment than subjects receiving treatment as usual.

There were no differences observed between individual and group therapy in terms of symptom improvement. Psychological treatments were effective in reducing the severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms. There were no significant differences in the number of dropouts when the three types of psychological treatment were analyzed separately.

The researchers suggest that large, randomized, controlled trials be conducted to confirm their observations, and further compare individual psychological treatments, predictors of response and cost effectiveness.