Although exposure and response prevention (ERP) is currently the most effective treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), there are substantial refusal and dropout rates. Therefore, there is a need to find ways to make treatments for OCD more acceptable and increase efficacy. This report presents four patients with OCD who received a novel treatment, Habit Reversal Training (HRT). HRT is the treatment of choice for OCD-related disorders such as Trichotillomania, but has not been formally tested for OCD. Based on recent studies showing that excessive habit formation plays an important role in OCD, we examined whether HRT would be an effective and acceptable treatment for OCD. Single case methodology was used to investigate its feasibility, acceptability and preliminary efficacy for OCD treatment. After 9 sessions of HRT over 11 weeks, all four participants showed 32-48% reductions in OCD severity, and three showed a clinically significant treatment response. These gains were largely maintained at 3 months follow-up. All participants rated HRT as a highly acceptable treatment. This suggests that HRT could prove to be an effective, efficient, and acceptable new OCD treatment, with a novel mechanism of action – targeting the habit system.
Habit Reversal Training for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Multiple Case Report
