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Obsessive Compulsive
Disorder study on young children shows promise
(July 2008
Issue)
By Catherine Robertson Souter
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a debilitating disease.
And, when it appears in young children, the symptoms can severely
inhibit normal developmental growth, from learning social skills
to academic achievement.
For adults and for children over age eight, cognitive behavioral
therapy (CBT) has long been the standard treatment for obsessive
compulsive disorder. While it stands to reason that CBT would also
apply to children under age eight, only recently has this treatment
been tested for the younger set.
In a study published in the May issue of the Journal of the American
Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, researchers at Providence's
Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center took a closer look at
treating OCD children ages five through eight with family-based
CBT as compared to using family-based relaxation therapy. As expected,
the CBT was significantly more effective.
"There has really been a dearth of research focused on the younger
age group," says the study's lead author, Jennifer B. Freeman, Ph.D.,
of the Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center and an assistant
professor of psychiatry/human behavior (research) at the Warren
Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
Researchers tested a group of 42 children, giving each 12 sessions
over 14 weeks of CBT or relaxation therapy. Both treatments involved
therapy with other family members who would then later help the
child with the relaxation or CBT techniques at home. Of the 74 percent
of children and families who completed the treatment programs,
69 percent found relief with the CBT versus 20 percent with the
relaxation therapy.
According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,
early childhood OCD affects approximately one in 200 children. While
some may question the need to address an illness that affects only
one to two percent of the population at so young an age, Freeman
points out that many developmental and social milestones fall between
ages five and eight - from learning to read to starting school or
joining organized sports and activities.
"When we see kids this young with OCD, the problems get compounded
over time. This is the age when a child needs to start school, make
friends, learn to read. If you have it at five and don't treat it,
a lot of things get impacted," Freeman says.
Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the study will
be expanded to include two other test sites at the University of
Pennsylvania and Duke University, in order to have a larger testing
pool. In the meantime, results have been so promising that the study's
lead authors (Freeman and Abbe Garcia, Ph.D.) have gone forward
with plans to create a clinical book: "Family Based Treatment for
Young Children with OCD."
"We have gotten requests for a manual over the years that we have
presented at conferences," says Freeman. "We are doing further study
but we felt it was ready for prime time."
The book will include both a therapist's guide and a parent workbook
to be distributed to clients. It will be published in August by
Oxford University Press.
See Clinical recommendations
offered.
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