Revista Brasileira de Terapias Cognitivas
Print version ISSN 1808-5687On-line version ISSN 1982-3746
Abstract
FERNANDES, Jacqueline Bahlis; KRUEL, Letícia Rosito Pinto and FINKLER, Débora Cassiane. Family accommodation repercussion on the treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Rev. bras.ter. cogn. [online]. 2015, vol.11, n.1, pp.50-56. ISSN 1808-5687. https://doi.org/10.5935/1808-5687.20150007.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) has considerable impact on family functioning. Accommodation behaviors, such as changes in routine due to the symptoms of OCD patients, are highly frequent. This phenomenon has been receiving growing attention in the literature during the recent years, since it is associated with worse response to first-line treatments, as Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and pharmacotherapy. The present article reviews the issue of family accommodation, including its implications on the treatment with CBT. Studies have investigated the relationship between the accommodation behaviors in the family and patients and family members symptoms. Once therapists have the understanding about how family accommodation occurs and what are the behaviors in the family that could be associated with the maintenance of symptoms, they could adequate intervention and psycho-education strategies towards OCD treatment. Although our understanding on family accommodation phenomenon has been contributed to the improvement of OCD treatment, further studies are needed to clarify the role of the different existing psychotherapeutic interventions on this kind of behavior besides its contribution to CBT response in OCD.
Keywords : Obsessive-compulsive disorder; Cognitive-behavioral therapy; Family relations.