A Clinical Case Study of Individual with Obsessive-compulsive Disorder Treatment using ERP Technique

Abstract

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a neurotic disorder. The essential feature of OCD is unwanted thoughts (obsession) that enter the person's mind again and again in a repetitive way, and these thoughts lead to acts that are repeated again and again. These behaviours interfere with daily activities and create distress for the individual. This is a case report of an adolescent boy who was experiencing "obsessive" thoughts related to the "dog bite" and cleaning and checking (when he felt the pain in different body parts, he felt that dog's bite on that place, and then he used to check again and again, and also he was afraid of rabies. He took more than 100 injections of rabies because of his compulsions." The study aims to decrease the level of symptoms in obsessive-compulsive disorder with the treatment of ERP techniques. Initially, assessment sessions of semi-structured interviews were conducted with the client to learn about the case history, personality traits, conflict, family history, and causes of the disorder. The client had been checked for the diagnosis of OCD symptoms with the Y-BOCS rating scale and Beck's depression inventory, which indicate higher symptoms of OCD with mild mood disturbance. The client was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder according to ICD-10 DCR criteria. Exposure and response prevention therapy was used as a treatment. After diagnosis, 5 sessions of ERP were conducted per week for a total of 60 sessions. After the sessions, the client reported that he had reduced intrusive thoughts and compulsions and observed positive changes in his behaviour. Based on the observation during the sessions and the feedback of the patient, ERP is an effective treatment for reducing the symptoms (intrusive thoughts & compulsions) of OCD.