Hostname: page-component-5cf477f64f-bmd9x Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-03T04:37:58.106Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Response Prevention of Compulsive Behaviour: A Case Study Conducted in a Community-based Rehabilitation Program

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2014

Eileen Britt
Eileen Britt*
Affiliation:
Palmerston North Hospital
*
Manawaroa Centre for Psychological Medicine, Palmerston North Hospital, Private Bag, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Get access

Abstract

The client, Susan, was a 25-year-old woman who had been engaging in checking rituals and repeating actions for at least five years. Staff, psychology students, high school volunteers and members of the client's family acted as observers and behaviour change agents. Data were collected daily, for up to 16 hours, over a 14-month period. The two major dependent variables comprised the number of rituals and the total time required to complete specific tasks. The major independent variable (response prevention) was also monitored. The results suggest that response prevention reduced the number of rituals and the time required to complete tasks and these changes were maintained at three months follow-up. In addition, a number of daily activities increased. The advantages and disadvantages of carrying out an intensive intervention within a community-based rehabilitation setting are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Behaviour Change , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , June 1991 , pp. 79 - 86
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Baer, L., Minichiello, W.E., Jenike, N.A., & Holland, A. (1989). Use of a portable computer program to assist behavioural treatment in a case of obsessive compulsive disorder. Journal of Behaviour Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 19, 237–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foa, E.B., & Steketee, G.S. (1979). Obsessive-compulsives: Conceptual issues and treatment interventions. In Hersen, M., Eisler, R.M., & Miller, P.M. (Eds.), Progress in behavior modification (pp. 1–53). NY: Wiley.Google Scholar
Foa, E.B., Steketee, G., & Grayson, J.B. (1985). Imaginal and in vivo exposure: A comparison with obsessive-compulsive checkers. Behavior Therapy, 16, 292–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foa, E.B., Steketee, G.S., Grayson, J.B., Turner, R., & Latimer, R. (1984). Deliberate exposure and blocking of obsessive-compulsive rituals: Immediate and long term effects. Behavior Therapy, 15, 450–472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foa, E.B., Steketee, G.S., & Milby, J.B. (1980). Differential effects of exposure and response prevention in obsessive-compulsive washers. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 48, 71–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hersen, M., & Barlow, D.H. (1976). Single case experimental design. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Lapin, L. (1980). Statistics: Meaning and method. NY: Harcourt-Brace-Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Marks, I.M. (1981). Review of behavioural psychotherapy. In: Obsessive-compulsive disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 138, 584–592.Google ScholarPubMed
Meyer, V. (1966). Modification of expectations in cases with obsessive rituals. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 4, 273–280.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Minichiello, W.E., Baer, L., & Jenike, M.A. (1988). Behaviour therapy for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder: Theory and practice. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 29, 123–137.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rachman, S.J., & Hodgson, R. (1980). Obsessions and compulsions. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Rachman, S.J., Hodgson, R., & Marks, I.M. (1971). The treatment of obsessive-compulsive neurosis. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 9, 237–247.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steketee, G.S., Foa, E.B., & Grayson, J.B. (1982). Recent advances in the treatment of obsessive-compulsives. Archives of General Psychiatry, 39, 1365–1371.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stokes, T.F., & Baer, D.M. (1977). An implicit technology of generalization. Journal of Applied Behavior Analyst, 10, 349–367.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walton, D., & Mather, M.D. (1963). The application of learning principles to the treatment of obsessive-compulsive states in the acute and chronic phases of illness. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 1, 163–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar