Cognitive retraining in obsessive-compulsive disorder and its effectiveness

BACKGROUND: Cognitive deficits in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) affect the course of illness and treatment outcome. Cognitive processes such as metacognition and fusion mediate the appraisal of intrusive thoughts and related emotions. Cognitive retraining improves cognitive functioning and cognitive processes leading to better treatment outcomes. The aim was to study the effect of cognitive retraining on symptoms, dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs, thought fusion, and quality of life in OCD. METHODS: It was a pre-post-intervention design using purposive sampling recruiting 20 patients having OCD; 10 each in experimental and waitlist group. Participants in the experimental group received pharmacological treatment and psychoeducation sessions combined with 6-week cognitive retraining whereas waitlist group participants received pharmacological treatment and psychoeducation sessions only. Outcome measures were: Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale, Metacognition Questionnaire, Thought Fusion Instrument, World Health Organization Quality of Life-Bref. RESULTS: Within-group analysis revealed significant differences in outcome measures in the experimental group. Between-group analysis displayed a change in positive belief about worry and psychological quality of life in the experimental group than the waitlist group. CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive retraining plays a key role in the management of OCD and may be an integral component of its management.