27th National Clinical Education Symposium Presentation Abstracts
28 APRIL 2025, MONDAY
10:15 - 11:30 ORAL PRESENTATION SESSION - 1
The relationship of cognitive behavioural group therapy with symptom severity, social and neurocognitive functions in obsessive compulsive disorder patients in the long term
Şebnem Pırıldar1, Emre Durmuş2, Ozlem Kuman Tuncel1, AYBUKE AYDIN3, Semiha Özgül4
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Show more (Affiliations)
1. Department of Psychiatry, Ege University, İzmir, Turkey
2. Department of Psychiatry, Keşan State Hospital, Edirne, Turkey
3. Department of Psychiatry, Çiğli Training and Research Hospital, İzmir, Turkey
4. Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Suleyman Demirel University, Isparta, Turkey; Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology The James Comprehensive Cancer Center The Ohio State University
DOI: 10.5080/kes27.abs8 Page 28
BACKGROUND AND AIM:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a psychiatric disorder characterized by obsessions and compulsions that affect the person's family, academic, occupational, and social functioning. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) has been widely adopted in clinical practice, and there is strong evidence that it is an effective method in the treatment of OCD. However, data on the long-term efficacy of CBT are limited. Previous studies have shown that individuals with OCD perform poorer than healthy controls in various neuropsychological domains. Data on changes in neurocognitive functions after CBT in OCD are contradictory and limited. In the literature, OCD is associated with impaired theory of mind. This study aimed to investigate the long-term effects of Cognitive Behavioural Group Therapy (CBGT) on symptom severity, social and neurocognitive functions in individuals with OCD. Another aim of the study was to compare the long-term effects of CBGT on symptom severity, social cognition, neurocognitive functions, and quality of life in OCD patients who completed and did not complete CBGT.
METHODS (Ethics Committee Approval must be obtained and the number should be specified.):The research group consisted of individuals diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder who participated in Aybüke Aydın's medical specialty thesis study titled Relationship between Cognitive Behavioural Group Therapy and Neurocognitive Functions in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder completed in 2018. Six years after the therapy, 21 out of 37 participants were re-evaluated. They included 13 participants who finished CBGT and eight participants who did not finish CBGT. The Structured clinical interview for DSM-5 disorders (SCID-5), Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R), Obsessive Beliefs Questionnaire-44 (OBQ-44), Short Form-36 (SF-36), Autism Spectrum Quotient (ASQ), Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Trail Making Test (TMT), Stroop Test and Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test were applied to the participants. Scale scores and test performances were compared with the data from Aybüke Aydın's study. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Medical Research at Ege University Faculty of Medicine with the decision number 23-12T/19, dated December 14, 2023. This study was supported by the Office of Scientific Research Projects at Ege University. Project Number: 32282.
RESULTS:No statistically significant difference was found between the groups who completed and did not complete CBGT regarding sociodemographic characteristics, clinical characteristics, medical characteristics and characteristics during the follow-up period. The group that completed Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy (CBGT) showed statistically significant changes in the obsessions, compulsions, and total scores of the YBOCS, the insight- related 11th item of the YBOCS, the BDI scores, and the differences in hoarding, checking, obsessing, and washing subscale scores of the OCI-R, as well as the responsibility/threat estimation and importance/control of thoughts subscale scores of the OBQ-44, before therapy (T0), after finishing therapy (T1), and six years after therapy (T2). In the group that completed CBGT, no changes were found in social and neurocognitive tests at T0, T1, and T2 evaluations. When comparing the clinical assessment scales of participants who completed CBGT and those who did not, before therapy (T0) and six years after therapy (T2), the changes in obsessions, compulsions, total scores of the YBOCS, the OCI-R subscale scores, the OBQ-44 subscale scores, and the Beck Depression Inventory scores were found to be similar. When social and neurocognitive tests of the groups were compared at T0 and T2, no significant differences were found between the groups at the measurement times.
CONCLUSIONS:This study shows that treatment gains obtained after CBGT in OCD patients are maintained in the long term. The fact that there were clinically significant improvements in the group that did not complete CBGT and that this group continued to use medication at a high rate suggests that long-term continuation of any treatment strategy in OCD patients may be associated with favorable outcomes. In OCD patients who completed CBGT, no change or improvement was observed in social and neurocognitive tests six years after the therapy. There was also no significant difference between the completion and non-completion groups. These findings suggest that CBGT has no effect on social and neurocognitive functions in the long term. REFERENCES:1. Aydın A, 2018, Obsesif Kompulsif Bozukluk Hastalarında Bilişsel Davranışçı Grup Terapisi ile Sosyal ve Nörobilişsel İşlevlerin İlişkisi, Tıpta Uzmanlık Tezi, İzmir, Ege Üniversitesi, Tıp Fakültesi. 2. Külz AK, Landmann S, Schmidt-Ott M, Zurowski B, Wahl-Kordon A, Voderholzer U, 2020, Long-Term Follow-up of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Symptom Severity and the Role of Exposure 810 Years After Inpatient Treatment. J Cogn Psychother;34(3):261 71 /34/3/261 3. Cabedo E, Belloch A, Carrió C, Larsson C, Fernández-Alvarez H, García F, 2010, Group Versus Individual Cognitive Treatment for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Changes in Severity at Post-Treatment and One-Year Follow-up. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy;38(2):22732. 4. Braga DT, Manfro GG, Niederauer K, Cordioli AV, 2010, Full remission and relapse of obsessive-compulsive symptoms after cognitive-behavioral group therapy: a two year follow-up. Braz J Psychiatry; 32(2):1648. 5. Braga DT, Abramovitch A, Fontenelle LF, Ferrão YA, Gomes JB, Vivan AS, et al., 2016, Neuropsychological Predictors Of Treatment Response To Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy In ObsessiveCompulsive Disorder. Depress Anxiety;33(9):848 61.